In the wake of Hamas’ surprise attack five days ago, most major American political figures have been eager to express support for Israel and its leaders. As The New York Times reported, Donald Trump, to a surprising degree, has adopted a different kind of posture.
Former President Donald J. Trump, who frequently paints himself as the fiercest defender of Israel to ever occupy the White House, on Wednesday criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech in Florida just days after deadly Hamas attacks rocked the country.
To be sure, at his appearance in West Palm Beach, the Republican continued to blame the crisis on President Joe Biden — an offensive he first launched on Saturday — which was predictable.
What was more surprising was Trump’s other comments about the crisis, the region, and the relevant players.
The former American president claimed, for example, that Netanyahu “let us down” and did “a very terrible thing” when the prime minister — according to Trump’s version of events — decided that Israel would not participate in a mission that targeted Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani in 2020.
Trump also criticized Israeli intelligence, and in the same appearance, described Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, as “very smart” — a label the Republican usually reserves for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jung Un, and China’s Xi Jinping.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates added soon after, “Statements like this are dangerous and unhinged. It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as ‘smart.’”
Trump went on to tell Fox News, in reference to Netanyahu, “He has been hurt very badly because of what’s happened here. He was not prepared. He was not prepared, and Israel was not prepared.”
As for why the former president is making comments such as these, there’s a larger context to keep in mind. MSNBC’s Jonathan Lemire reported a few hours ago, for example, that Netanyahu has offered public praise for Biden, “and Trump simply couldn’t stand for that.”
What’s more, let’s not forget what triggered the Republican’s broader animosity against the Israeli prime minister. Remember this Axios report from December 2021? Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu were the closest of political allies during the four years they overlapped in office, at least in public. Not anymore. “I haven’t spoken to him since,” Trump said of the former Israeli prime minister. “F**k him.”
Reflecting on Netanyahu congratulating then-President-elect Biden in 2020, while Trump was still trying to overturn his defeat, the former president added, “The first person that congratulated [Biden] was Bibi Netanyahu, the man that I did more for than any other person I dealt with. … Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible mistake. “I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi. But I also like loyalty. The first person to congratulate Biden was Bibi. And not only did he congratulate him, he did it on tape.” To the extent that reality matters, Netanyahu wasn’t even close to being “the first” foreign leader to congratulate Biden, though such details apparently weren’t important to Biden’s predecessor. It’s against this backdrop that Trump, still overwhelmed with an apparent sense of grievance, thought it’d be appropriate to publicly criticize Netanyahu and Israel, while praising Hezbollah’s intelligence.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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