Former President Donald Trump said in a new interview that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserves criticism over the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that led to the slaughter of Israeli civilians.
In a wide-ranging interview with Time, Trump said he would support Israel if full-fledged war with Iran breaks out, but was critical of Israel’s readiness when Hamas stunned it on Oct. 7.
“Bibi Netanyahu rightfully has been criticized for what took place on October 7,” Trump told Time.. “I would say that what happened on … October 7 should have never happened.”
Noting that the attack happened “on his watch,” Trump said, speaking of Netanyahu, “And I think it’s had a profound impact on him, despite everything. Because people said that shouldn’t have happened. They have the most sophisticated equipment. They had — everything was there to stop that.
“And a lot of people knew about it, you know. Thousands and thousands of people knew about it, but Israel didn’t know about it, and I think he’s being blamed for that very strongly, being blamed. And now you have the hostage situation,” he said.
“And I happen to think that on the hostages, knowing something about the enemy, and knowing something about people, I think you have very few hostages left. You know, they talk about all of these hostages. I don’t believe [Hamas terrorists] are able or even wanting to take care of people as negotiations. I don’t—I think the hostages are going to be far fewer than people think, which is a very sad thing,” Trump said.
In late April, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, who led Israeli military intelligence at the time of the attack, resigned over the failure of Israeli officials to detect the Oct. 7 attack before it took place. More resignations are expected, according to The Associated Press.
A report in The New York Times has indicated that some elements of the plan used on Oct. 7 were known by Israeli intelligence officials months before the attack.
In the Time interview, Trump was asked about the two-state solution, in which one state would be for the Palestinians.
Do you agree with Trump?
He was not optimistic about the possibility.
“I’m not sure a two-state solution anymore is gonna work. Everybody was talking about two states, even when I was there,” he said.
“There was a time when I thought two states could work. Now I think two states is going to be very, very tough. I think it’s going to be much tougher to get. I also think you have fewer people that liked the idea. You had a lot of people that liked the idea four years ago. Today, you have far fewer people that like that idea,” he said, adding “there may not be another idea.”
Speaking of the root issue in the Middle East, Trump said that Arab “children grow up and they’re taught to hate Jewish people at a level that nobody thought was possible.”
“And I had a friend, a very good friend, Sheldon Adelson, who felt that it was impossible to make a deal because the level of hatred was so great. And I think it was much more so on one side than the other, but the level of hatred of Jewish people was so great, and taught from the time they were in kindergarten and before,” Trump said, adding that Adelson “felt that it was impossible to make a deal because of the level of hatred.”
Trump said that he “disagreed with it. But so far, he hasn’t been wrong.”
In March, Trump said in an interview with Israel Hayom that Israel had been losing the public relations war.
“I think Israel made a very big mistake. I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it. These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza. And I said, Oh, that’s a terrible portrait. It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people,” he said.
When reminded by his interviewer that terrorists hide in the building Israel destroys, he replied, “Go and do what you have to do. But you don’t do that.”
