Former President Trump proposes visiting Israel
(Baonghean.vn) - Former US President Donald Trump said he may visit Israel in the near future. Trump's statement came after he harshly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for the Israeli leader's failure to predict Hamas' attack.
“I could go,” Trump told reporters outside the New York courthouse where he is facing a civil fraud lawsuit. “But I believe in letting them do what they have to do,” Trump continued. “They have to deal with it clearly. What’s happening in Israel, all those people would never have died… if I were president.”
During his tenure in the White House, Mr. Trump oversaw the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the signing of the Abraham Accords, under which Israel normalized relations with Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Mr. Trump often praised his close personal relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu and described himself as “the most pro-Israel American president in history.”
That relationship has since deteriorated. Speaking to Fox News last week, Mr. Trump claimed that Prime Minister Netanyahu was “not prepared” for the surprise attack by Hamas. “He was not prepared and Israel was not prepared,” Mr. Trump said, adding that the Israeli Prime Minister was “hurt very badly by what happened.”
At a campaign rally in Florida days later, former President Trump stressed that Israel needed to “take care of” its intelligence agencies and that Netanyahu had “let us down” by refusing to participate in the 2020 airstrike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.
Trump’s comments about his planned visit to Israel came a day after President Joe Biden returned from a visit to the Jewish state. Biden met with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, during which the White House boss promised additional military aid to Israel and advised the Israeli Prime Minister not to “throw tantrums” in response to Hamas’ attacks./.
