Following a storm of GOP criticism for declaring Netanyahu “let us down,” Trump claims he still supports Netanyahu

As his GOP opponents continued to sharply criticize his outburst at Netanyahu days after Hamas’ fatal assault, former President Donald Trump declared on Friday that he stood with Israel and its prime leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump tweeted “#IStandWithIsrael” and “#IStandWithBibi” on his Truth Social network on Friday afternoon, referring to Netanyahu by his handle.

This was in sharp contrast to remarks made by Trump earlier this week, when he told a crowd at a rally in Florida that Netanyahu had “let us down” before the US killed a senior Iranian general. Trump also criticized the nation’s intelligence services, saying they needed to “step up their game,” and called Hezbollah, the organization Israel worries may carry out a significant strike from the nation’s north, “very smart.”

The former president and GOP front-runner received considerable criticism for his remarks from both the White House and Trump’s GOP opponents, who have often refrained from going against him directly because of how well-liked he is among the party’s grassroots supporters.

By Thursday afternoon, it seemed that Trump’s administration was trying to minimize the damage by releasing remarks that emphasized his prior support for Israel. “There was no better friend or ally of Israel than President Donald J. Trump,” one of his tweets said. He also lauded the Israeli troops battling Hamas right now in reaction to the historic surprise strike on October 7. Since then, at least 3,200 people on both sides of the conflict have died.

Netanyahu and Trump collaborated extensively when Trump was president, but after Netanyahu congratulated then-President-elect Biden on winning the 2020 election while Trump was still attempting to annul the results, Trump reacted angrily. According to the author of a book on his Middle East peace attempts, Trump used an obscenity to refer to the troubled prime leader and blamed Netanyahu for being unfaithful in interviews. I enjoyed Bibi. I continue to like Bibi. I do, however, value loyalty. Bibi was the first to congratulate Biden. He allegedly remarked, “And not only did he congratulate him, he did it on camera.

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, refuted any backtracking and emphasized Trump’s support for Israel throughout his time as president, including his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and his signing of the Abraham Accords.

“There was no bigger advocate and defender of Israel than President Trump,” he said.

Nevertheless, Trump’s GOP foes never stopped criticizing him over his remarks.While running for office in New Hampshire, former vice president Mike Pence said that he “found the former president’s comments to be reckless and irresponsible.”

“This nation’s leaders need to convey just one message: America supports Israel. I believe it was incomprehensible to me to criticize Prime Minister Netanyahu and call the terrorist group Hezbollah extremely intelligent,” he continued.

The nation needs a leader who “knows the difference between good and evil,” according to Nikki Haley, who represented Trump at the UN.

“I think to go and give credit to Hezbollah, to congratulate the Chinese Communist Party like he did and to go and criticize the head of a country that just saw massive bloodshed, no, that’s not what we need in a president,” she said. “What we need in a president is someone who can distinguish between good and evil, between right and wrong.”

Longtime Trump detractor and former governor of New Jersey Chris Christie told reporters that the former president was “a fool” and that the incident “should show everybody how self-consumed he is.”

He is still upset with Benjamin Netanyahu for contacting Joe Biden to congratulate him on his victory in the 2020 election. That is what is motivating him to make these remarks. Can we really afford to have a president who clearly just cares about himself in a situation like this?