After Being Attacked by Israeli Official, Trump Fires Back: ‘No Better Friend to Israel’

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump issued a statement suggesting that there is “no better friend” to Israel after critics accused him of praising Hezbollah terrorists.

As The Political Insider reported yesterday, Trump made comments at a Florida campaign rally in which he described Hezbollah as “very smart” and criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“But Hezbollah, they’re very smart and they have a national defense minister or somebody saying, ‘I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack us from the north,’” Trump told the crowd.

“So the following morning they attacked,” he continued. “They might not have been doing it, but if you listen to this jerk, you would attack from the north because he said that’s our weak spot.”

Last night Trump called Hezbollah very smart and preemptively mocked the Fake News for criticizing when he calls adversaries smart.

And the Fake News and DeSimp Campaign STILL took the bait 😂

These people are such idiots. pic.twitter.com/4VAsF8yxBr

— Patri0tsareinContr0l (@Patri0tContr0l) October 12, 2023

RELATED: Ron DeSantis Falsely Claims President Trump ‘Attacks’ Israel And ‘Praises’ Hezbollah

Faced Heavy Criticism For His Comments

Several entities misconstrued Trump’s comments as praise for a terror organization when, in fact, it is clear he’s suggesting incompetence on the part of those who underestimate the terrorists’ cunning.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed Trump’s remarks as “absurd” and characterized them as an “attack (on) our friend and ally, Israel” and “praise” for Hezbollah terrorists.

Presidential hopeful Chris Christie also took time to criticize Trump.

“He’s a fool. Only a fool wouldn’t make those kind of comments,” he said. “Only a fool would give comments that could give aid and comfort to Israel’s adversary in this situation.”

Trump is a fool for praising Hezbollah and Israel’s adversaries right now.

This is someone who cares not about the American people, not about the people of Israel, but about himself.

This is further proof that he has no business being President of the United States. pic.twitter.com/JjZ4ub8p1I

— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) October 12, 2023

The Joe Biden White House, of course, jumped into the fray by capitalizing on the media’s framing of his comments as well.

White House torches Donald Trump’s new comments on Israel & Hezbollah.

“Statements like this are dangerous and unhinged. It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as ‘smart,’” says White House spokesman @AndrewJBates46. https://t.co/rf7dQfF9pk pic.twitter.com/wWknRp8DK6

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 12, 2023

And on Thursday, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi also took aim at the former President.

“Shameful that a man like that, a former US president, abets propaganda and disseminates things that wound the spirit of Israel’s fighters and its citizens,” he said.

Shameful that you wouldn’t do your homework before taking the American media’s reporting at face value.

Israeli communications minister on Trump:

“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.”https://t.co/UrnYzudFEj

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) October 12, 2023

Trump Insists He’s A Friend To Israel

On Thursday, Trump issued a statement refuting any suggestion that he is not a strong ally to Israel.

“There was no better friend or ally of Israel than President Donald J. Trump,” he said in a post to the Truth Social media platform.

“Under my leadership, the United States stood in complete solidarity with Israel, and as a result, Israel was safe, America was safe, and for the first time in decades, we made historic strides for Peace in the Middle East,” he continued.

“There was no better friend or ally of Israel than President Donald J. Trump. Under my leadership, the US stood in complete solidarity w/Israel, & as a result, Israel was safe, America was safe, & for the 1st time in decades, we made historic strides for Peace in the Middle East” pic.twitter.com/3TEqCYWvXG

— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) October 12, 2023

Trump added that the world “is in absolute chaos” due to President Biden’s weak leadership, and in a subsequent post claimed “the attack on Israel would never have happened” if he had been President.

Israel has likewise viewed Trump as a friend.

In 2019, Netanyahu vowed to name a town on the Golan Heights after then-President Trump, a thank you for recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the area.

Two years earlier, Trump announced that he recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. He followed that up by officially opening the U.S. Embassy there, a campaign promise that presidents before him were unable to fulfill.

I fulfilled my campaign promise – others didn’t! pic.twitter.com/bYdaOHmPVJ

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2017

Trump’s administration brought about the historic Abraham Accords – a series of peace deals leading to the normalization of relations between Israel and several Arab and Muslim-majority nations.

Trump had aptly described the Accords as “the dawn of a new Middle East.”

Peace arrangements in the Middle East, prior to that, were largely dismissed as impossible.

“How could ‘Crooked’ Joe Biden, the worst and most incompetent President in the history of the United States allow this to happen?” asked Trump. “We went from the Abraham Accords and peace to unprecedented death and destruction.”

The White House has confirmed 27 Americans died in the Hamas terror attacks. Roughly 1,300 Israelis were also killed.