Trump says Israel’s Netanyahu was not ready for Hamas assault

Oct 11 (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what he described as an absence of preparation for a weekend assault by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed not less than 1,200 folks in Israel.

Talking to Fox Information, Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, mentioned Netanyahu “has been damage very badly” as a result of assault.

“He was not ready. He was not ready and Israel was not ready. And underneath Trump, they would not have needed to be ready,” he mentioned.

Trump’s feedback got here as Israel was nonetheless accumulating its useless and reeling from one of the crucial devastating assaults in its historical past. It has retaliated with air strikes on Gaza which have killed not less than 1,200 Palestinians.

Certainly one of Trump’s opponents within the Republican contest, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, criticized the previous president over the feedback.

“(It) is absurd that anybody, a lot much less somebody working for President, would select now to assault our buddy and ally, Israel,” DeSantis wrote on social media.

Trump and Netanyahu had an in depth relationship throughout Trump’s time as president, although cracks have appeared of their as soon as ironclad rapport.

Talking to supporters in Florida on Wednesday night, Trump once more commented on Israeli safety preparedness, pointing to “a number of the issues that went unsuitable over the past week”.

Trump added: “They’ve gotta straighten it out as a result of they’re combating probably a really huge power, they’re combating probably with Iran.”

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Rules.