Biden ‘Dumped’ Israel, Hamas Attack Should Never Have Happened: Trump

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate in a joint statement in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 28, 2020. Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump slammed the Biden administration’s Israel policy, claiming it is ultimately harming the Jewish nation.

Israel “lost a lot of people on October 7th … People have to remember that. And all of a sudden, he (Biden) dumped Israel. That’s what he’s doing. He dumped Israel,” President Trump said in a March 15 interview with Fox News. The former president suggested that Palestinian protests may have made President Biden back away from Israel, the outlet claimed. “He just said essentially that Netanyahu should take a walk.”

The Biden administration doesn’t “know where to go” when it comes to the Israel issue, President Trump stated. “The Democrats are very bad for Israel. Israel sticks with them. I guess Israel is loyal maybe to a fault because they stick with these guys. Biden is so bad for Israel. They should have never been attacked.”

President Trump’s comments came after President Biden recently criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the conflict in Gaza. The offensive is “hurting Israel more than helping” due to the loss of innocent lives in the war, President Biden said in a March 10 interview with MSNBC.

Prime Minister Netanyahu “has the right to defend Israel, the right to continue to pursue Hamas, but he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken,” he said.

President Biden called for a ceasefire in Gaza. “They cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after” Hamas terrorists, he stated. By mid-February, Israel’s operations in Gaza had killed over 29,000 people since Oct. 7, according to data from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Prime Minister Netanyahu hit back at Biden’s comments, pointing out that his actions are not personal decisions.

“I don’t know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant by that that I’m pursuing private policies against the majority, the wish of the majority of Israelis, and that this is hurting the interests of Israel, then he’s wrong on both counts,” he stated. “They’re policies supported by the overwhelming majority of the Israelis. They support the action that we’re taking to destroy the remaining terrorist battalions of Hamas.

“And they also support my position that says that we should resoundingly reject the attempt to ram down our throats a Palestinian state.”

During an address on the Senate floor on March 14, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu, claiming he has become one of the “major obstacles” to achieving peace in the region.

“I believe in his heart, his highest priority is the security of Israel. However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel,” Mr. Schumer said.

“I believe that holding a new election once the war starts to wind down would give Israelis an opportunity to express their vision for the postwar future.”

President Biden expressed support for Mr. Schumer’s speech. “He made a good speech … He expressed serious concerns, shared not only by him but by many Americans,” the president told reporters.

During a press briefing, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that whether Israel sees an election or not is a matter that is “up to the Israeli people to decide.”

President Biden’s handling of the ongoing Israel–Hamas conflict has not gone well among Israelis. A recent poll published by Israeli TV station Channel 12 showed that 44 percent of the country’s citizens want President Trump as the next American president, far higher than the 30 percent who wanted to see President Biden back in office.

Biden Versus Israel

Tensions between the Biden administration and the Israeli government are flaring up as Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed that the country will follow through on its military incursion plans in Rafah, a city where around 1.5 million Palestinians have come seeking refuge from other parts of Gaza.

President Biden has asked Israel not to invade Rafah, warning that doing so would be akin to crossing a “red line.”

However, Prime Minister Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting that “no international pressure will stop Israel” from achieving its war goals. “If we stop the war now before achieving all of its goals, the meaning is that Israel had lost the war and we will not allow this.”

Continuing the war is essential to fulfill the aims of “eliminating Hamas, releasing all our hostages, and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat against Israel … To do this, we will also operate in Rafah.” The operation in Rafah will take place over “several weeks,” he stated.

In an interview with NBC, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said that the Biden administration may have to use “other tools at its disposal” to effectively make Israel follow the president’s demands.

“Time and again, President Biden calls upon the Netanyahu government to take certain actions, and for the most part, time and again, Netanyahu ignores the president of the United States. And so I think that makes the United States look ineffective,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian political party Fatah criticized Hamas on Friday, accusing the terror group of “having caused the return of the Israeli occupation of Gaza” by conducting the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

The attack has led to a “catastrophe even more horrible and cruel than that of 1948 … The real disconnection from reality and the Palestinian people is that of the Hamas leadership,” it said.