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Saul Martinez

Former president <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> on Wednesday criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called Hezbollah terrorist attackers “very smart” as Israel recovers from the deadliest attack it has suffered in 50 years.

“He has been hurt very badly because of what’s happened here,” Trump said of Netanyahu in an interview for Fox News Radio’s “Brian Kilmeade Show” that was excerpted on television Wednesday night. “He was not prepared. He was not prepared and Israel was not prepared.”

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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/29/gaza-israel-ceasefire-hostages-blinken/" target=_blank>Mediators expressed hope Monday</a>, once again, that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/29/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/" target=_blank>Israel and Hamas were inching toward an agreement to halt fighting in Gaza</a> and release dozens of Israeli hostages still held captive there. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/28/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/" target=_blank>Secretary of State Antony Blinken </a>said much of his focus during talks in Jordan and Israel in the coming days would be on improving <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2024/gaza-aid-truck-sea-airdrop/?itid=lk_inline_manual_44" target=_blank>dire conditions for civilians</a> in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has declared a state of war and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/10/israel-military-draft-reservists/" target=_blank>called up 360,000 reservists</a> after a surprise attack by Hamas militants on Saturday killed at least 1,200 people and wounded more than 2,700.

In a speech later Wednesday, Trump, the clear polling leader in the Republican presidential race, complimented the intelligence of Hezbollah, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States. The Iranian-aligned group, based in Lebanon, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/11/israel-hamas-war-updates-gaza-attack/" target=_blank>exchanged fire</a> with Israeli forces on the country’s northern border Wednesday.

“You know, Hezbollah is very smart,” Trump said. “They’re all very smart.”

Trump’s remarks drew condemnations both domestically and abroad Wednesday and Thursday, including from his Republican presidential rivals.

“[I]t is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/12/what-is-hezbollah-israel-lebanon/" target=_blank>Hezbollah</a> terrorists as ‘very smart,’” said Florida Gov. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/ron-desantis-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Ron DeSantis</a> said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Trump’s comments reflected his long-established pattern of slighting U.S. allies while complimenting adversaries such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung defended the former president’s comments as meant to criticize unspecified U.S. officials for giving Hezbollah the idea to attack from the north. He said Trump was referring to a <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3551962/senior-defense-official-holds-a-background-briefing-on-us-force-posture-changes/" target="_blank">briefing</a> by a senior U.S. defense official on Monday that expressed concern about Hezbollah opening a second front. In fact, Hezbollah started bombardments <a href="https://apnews.com/article/lebanon-israel-chebaa-farms-gaza-rocket-attack-cd7b26f890bf4cae32491721506ec0a1" target="_blank">a day earlier</a>, according to the Associated Press.

“President Trump was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were by telegraphing to the terrorists an area that is susceptible to an attack,” Cheung said. “Smart does not equal good.”

In response, the White House called Trump’s statements “dangerous and unhinged.”

“It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as ‘smart.’ Or have any objection to the United States warning terrorists not to attack Israel,” deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates said. “This is a time for all of us to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel against ‘unadulterated evil.’”

Mort Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, which has honored Trump in the past, joined in the criticism in an interview on Thursday.

“It is reckless and irresponsible for Trump to have made negative comments about Israel — this is a time for unified support, not irrelevant comments that could give succor to Israel’s enemies,” Klein said. “I’m so ashamed of what he said. How does he expect support from people who care about Israel after making statements like this?”

Trump also disparaged Israel’s defense minister for calling attention to Hezbollah. “If you listen to this jerk, you would attack from the north,” Trump said.

His remarks also drew a rebuke Thursday from the Israeli government’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi. “Shameful that a man like that, a former U.S. president, abets propaganda and disseminates things that wound the spirit of Israel’s fighters and its citizens,” Karhi told the country’s Channel 13. “We don’t have to bother with him and the nonsense he spouts.”

Sen. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/tim-scott-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Tim Scott</a> (R-S.C.) took issue with Trump’s comments on Hezbollah and Netanyahu. “He’s wrong,” Scott told reporters Thursday.

In a New Hampshire town hall hosted by Gannett on Thursday, former U.N. ambassador <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/nikki-haley-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Nikki Haley</a> called Trump’s comments “dangerous,” saying that this is what she refers to when she says her party needs to chart a new path forward.

Former New Jersey governor <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/chris-christie-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Chris Christie</a> called Trump “a fool” for his remarks on Hezbollah and Netanyahu.

“Only a fool would give comments that could give aid and comfort to Israel’s adversary in this situation,” Christie said Thursday on CNN’s “Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer.” “He has no business being president of the United States.”

Even as Trump made his remark about Hezbollah, he acknowledged that it could be controversial, immediately adding, “The press doesn’t like when they say it.” He went on to repeat that he views Xi as a “very smart man” because “1.4 billion people, he controls it with an iron fist.”

“They kill me the next day — I ‘said he was smart,’” Trump mocked. “What am I going to say? But Hezbollah, they’re very smart.”

He added, speaking again of Israel’s enemies, “They’re vicious and they’re smart. And, boy, are they vicious.”

Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison in a statement Thursday called Trump’s remarks “disgusting, depraved, and dangerous.”

Former vice president <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/mike-pence-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Mike Pence</a>, who is also running against Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, compared the remarks to Trump’s past comments about Putin.

“This is no time for the former president or any other American leader to be sending any message other than America stands with Israel,” Pence said Thursday in a New Hampshire radio interview.

In a speech Wednesday delivered to an auditorium of supporters in West Palm Beach, Fla., Trump elaborated that he had “a bad experience with Israel as president,” telling a story about the U.S. operation to assassinate Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. In Trump’s account, Israeli intelligence helped the United States locate Soleimani and plan the drone strike that killed him, but on the eve of the operation withdrew its participation.

The accuracy of Trump’s account could not immediately be confirmed. At the time of the assassination, the Israeli government <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israelis-quietly-hail-soleimani-killing-as-they-brace-for-retaliation/2020/01/03/fcbfbc46-2e08-11ea-bffe-020c88b3f120_story.html" target="_blank">reacted with restraint</a> to avoid fanning tensions with Iran. In 2021, a retired Israeli military officer acknowledged that his country’s intelligence contributed to the U.S. airstrike.

“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing,” Trump said in Wednesday’s speech. “So we were disappointed by that. Very disappointed. But we did the job ourself. It was absolute precision, magnificent, beautiful job. And then Bibi tried to take credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good. But that’s all right.”

As Trump told the story, he suggested that he was recounting it publicly for the first time and that it possibly included classified information. He was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/08/trump-classified-documents-mar-a-lago/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template" target=_blank>indicted earlier this year</a> by special counsel Jack Smith on 40 counts arising from allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.

“I don’t think this has ever been told,” Trump said in the speech. “They’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s classified information.’ Well, maybe it is, but I don’t think so.”

In his speech Wednesday, Trump did not mention the contest for House speaker, in which his endorsed candidate, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), lost a conference vote earlier Wednesday to Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).

Sidney Award, Sidney Hillman Foundation, 2018

Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism, National Press Club, 2019

Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting, honorable mention, 2019

 Toner Prize for Excellence in National Political Reporting, finalist, 2022

Finish What We Started

Isaac Arnsdorf is a national political reporter for The Washington Post who covers former president Donald Trump, the “Make America Great Again” political movement and the Republican Party. 

Isaac Arnsdorf

Trump faults Netanyahu, calls Hezbollah ‘very smart’ amid Israel war

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