Trump: ‘Israel has to do better with PR, right now they’re in ruin’; ‘finish up your war, get on to peace’
Asked about growing tensions between Jerusalem and Washington over the ongoing war in Gaza, US presidential hopeful Donald Trump says support for Israel in the US has been dropping for the past 15 years.
“Israel has to get better with the promotional and with the public relations, because right now they’re in ruin. They’re being hurt very badly,” he says in a filmed interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper.
He also blames US President Joe Biden for Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which he claims the terror group perpetrated “because they have no respect for him.”
War erupted in Gaza after thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid horrific acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Trump says he would have reacted in “very much the same way” as Israel did after the massacre.
“I would say I would act very much the same way as you did. You would have to be crazy not to. Only a fool would not do that. That was a horrible attack.”
He says, “What I saw October 7 was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen,” but adds that Israel should end the war. “You have to finish up your war. To finish it up. You gotta get it done. And, I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on.”
He adds: “Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support, you have to finish up, you have to get the job done. And you have to get on to peace, to get on to a normal life for Israel, and for everybody else.”
Trump also appears to explain the rise in antisemitism in the US since October 7 as resulting from images of destruction coming out of Gaza from the ongoing war.
Asked how he would counter the antisemnitism spike, he says: “Well, that’s because you fought back. And I think Israel made a very big mistake. I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it. These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza. And I said, ‘Oh, that’s a terrible portrait.'”
