Former president Donald Trump criticized the Israeli government during a Wednesday night speech in Florida and connected the Jewish State’s brutalization at the hands of Hamas to his own domestic political concerns.
“I will never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down,” the former president said, claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to help the U.S. execute the drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ al Quds force.
After mentioning Israel for the first time 20 minutes into his speech in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump began to argue that the country would not be in crisis had he only won the 2020 election.
“If the election wasn’t rigged, there would be nobody even thinking about going into Israel. The election was rigged, very sadly rigged,” he said.
Trump went on to blame the Biden administration for drawing Hezbollah into the conflict by publicly pointing out that the Iranian-backed terror group may try to widen the conflict by attacking over the Lebanon-Israel border.
“Hezbollah is very smart, they’re all very smart,” Trump said, arguing that Hezbollah only thought to attack Israel because Biden administration officials publicly mentioned the possibility.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis condemned Trump’s remarks during a campaign speech on Wednesday night.
“Terrorists have murdered at least 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans and are holding more hostage, so it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as ‘very smart,’” the Republican presidential hopeful wrote on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“As President, I will stand with Israel and treat terrorists like the scum that they are.”
NEW: Trump praises Hezbollah, calling the Iran-backed terror group “very smart” hours after they attacked Israel.
Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/8YhjpyyGLZ
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) October 12, 2023
The devastating Hamas attack on Israel, which claimed the lives of at least 1,00 Israelis and 25 Americans, has brought intra-Republican foreign-policy divisions to the fore.
On Tuesday, former vice president Mike Pence denounced both his ex-running mate as well as DeSantis as the “voices of appeasement” responsible for global instability. “I also believe this is what happens when we have leading voices like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ron DeSantis signaling [a] retreat from America’s role as leader of the free world.”
“What happened in Ukraine was an unprovoked invasion by Russia. What happened this weekend was an unprovoked invasion by Hamas into Israel, and I believe now more than ever, both the debate within the Republican Party and the debate within America is whether or not we’re going to once again stand without apology as the leader of the free world, as the arsenal of democracy.”
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina similarly criticized the “Joe Biden wing” of the GOP in a speech on Tuesday, singling out DeSantis and Ramaswamy for their “weakness” on foreign policy.
DeSantis dismissed those criticisms and announced that he would introduce Florida-based sanctions against Iran in the upcoming legislative session.
Iran is the primary backer of Hamas and a host of prominent Republicans, including DeSantis, have attacked the Biden administration for emboldening the regime by releasing $6 billion in frozen oil revenue in exchange for the release of American hostages. That agreement was announced just weeks before the Hamas attack.