Donald Trump thinks that President Biden is trying to restrict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The former president said as much during an interview on an airport tarmac after landing in Detroit Friday ahead of a campaign roundtable in the suburb of Auburn Hills, telling reporters that he was about to speak to Netanyahu following Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar Thursday.
“He’s doing a good job,” Trump said about the Israeli leader. “Biden is trying to hold him back, just so you understand, Biden is more superior to the VP. He’s trying to hold him back, and he probably should be doing the opposite, actually. I’m glad that [Netanyahu] decided to do what he had to do, but it’s moving along pretty good.”
Trump says he’s about to speak to Netanyahu and says, “Biden is trying to hold him back … he probably should be doing the opposite, actually.” pic.twitter.com/i12koY0z1s
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 18, 2024
Trump characterizing Biden as trying to “hold Netanyahu back” is absurd when the White House privately gave Israel the green light to expand their bombing campaign from Gaza to Lebanon while publicly urging a ceasefire. The idea that Netanyahu is doing a good job when the civilian death toll continues to rise in both Gaza and Lebanon raises the question of how Trump defines a “good job,” too—and what he would support if he returns to the White House.
On Thursday, Kamala Harris said that Sinwar’s death represents “an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza,” adding that a ceasefire was only possible when “Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
While this essentially repeats what the White House has been saying throughout Israel’s war, it’s quite different from Trump’s bombastic rhetoric: He has repeatedly said that Israel has to “finish the job.” The former president’s Friday comments appear to be an attempt to paint Biden, and by extension, Harris, as being less supportive of Israel than him, which flies in the face of the U.S.’s backing of Israel over the past year. The question is whether the conflict will cost either candidate critical votes in a few weeks.
