Trump: I told Netanyahu ‘get your victory quickly’ because ‘the killing has to stop’
Hours later, former president accuses Kamala Harris of ‘always demanding ceasefire’; warns Hamas it better release hostages ‘before I assume office,’ says most hostages are dead
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Former US president Donald Trump said Thursday that he counseled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when they met last month to swiftly “get your victory” because the “killing has to stop” in Gaza.
The Republican presidential nominee was asked at a New Jersey press conference whether he encouraged Netanyahu not to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Trump denied doing that, asserting that Netanyahu “knows what he’s doing.”
“I did encourage him to get this over with. You want to get it over with fast. Have victory, get your victory, and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop,” Trump added.
The former president has long called for Israel to quickly secure a victory over Hamas, arguing that Israel has a public relations problem that gets worse the longer the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught goes on. The assertion that the “killing has to stop” appeared to be the closest Trump has come to more directly criticizing Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza.
Yet speaking later Thursday at an event about tackling antisemitism, also in New Jersey, the former president criticized his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, for “always demanding ceasefire.”
“From the start, Harris has worked to tie Israel’s hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding ceasefire,” Trump said at the event just a few hours after his press conference, adding that it “would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new October 7 style attack.”
“I will give Israel the support that it needs to win but I do want them to win fast,” Trump added.
At the same event, Trump warned Hamas and other “enemies around the world: We want our hostages back and they better be back before I assume office.”
He said that Hamas was playing hardball in negotiations on a hostage-ceasefire deal because, he asserted, most of the hostages were dead. “Hamas is really being difficult to negotiate with” in recent days, he said, “and the reason is they’re dead, not all but almost all… a lot…but I think you’re going to have very few people left. A lot of people that they think are alive are not going to be alive.” Of Hamas, he said, “These are very savage people.”
Trump was introduced at the event by Miriam Adelson, the widow of the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who is supporting his presidential campaign. The staunchly pro-Israel couple were his leading financial backers in 2020.
Further hitting out at Harris, he also claimed she has “maneuvered” to get support from “venomous antisemites in her party.” Harris is married to a Jew who, if she wins the election, would make history as the first Jewish spouse of a US president — as well as the first man in the role.
Using his trademark inflammatory language, Trump claimed that if Harris wins, “the radical left flag burners and Hamas sympathizers will not just be causing chaos on our streets. They’ll be running US foreign policy in the White House, and Israel will be gone.”
Labeling pro-Palestinian protesters against Israel as “pro-Hamas thugs” and “jihad sympathizers,” Trump threatened to arrest and deport them from the US if he returns to the White House.
Earlier, at his press conference, Trump was asked when he had last spoken to Netanyahu after a report by the Axios news site claimed the pair had spoken on Wednesday about the hostage deal currently being negotiated between Israel and Hamas.
Netanyahu’s office denied the report and Trump did too, saying he hasn’t spoken to Netanyahu since they met last month at his Florida golf resort.
“I expect I might be talking to him, but I haven’t since then,” Trump said, adding that they met for roughly two hours.
He reiterated his claim that Hamas’s shock October 7 attack would not have taken place if he were president.
Trump also maintained that he has a very good relationship with Netanyahu although the two appeared to have a falling out after the premier congratulated Joe Biden on defeating Trump in the 2020 election, leading the latter to curse Netanyahu out in a phone interview.
Last month, Trump called for a quick end to the war in Gaza and the return of the hostages during an interview with Fox. He echoed the call for the hostages to be released immediately during his Mar-a-Lago meeting with Netanyahu.
