Former President Donald Trump, now candidate for President Donald Trump, has made outrageous statements about Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defense Minister. His speech was given in West Palm Beach, Florida.This is not the first comment from candidate Trump. Most notably, Trump completely failed to show any sympathy for the plight of the Israeli people, offered no help whatever to families of the slain, nor showed any support for Israel’s military or its government.
Everything Trump says is about Trump, not about Israel or in support of those fighting against Hamas.Instead, Trump went out of his way to blame the war on Netanyahu and the Israeli army, and to call Defense Minister Gallant “a jerk.”
In doing this Trump has shown just how narrow minded and self-obsessed he is, and how he fails to understand the heavy responsibility of leadership he again aspires to reclaim.President Biden, despite his many flaws, rose to the occasion and spoke clearly and unambiguously how America supports Israel. Despite his well known dislike for Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s right wing government, Biden gave his speech well before there was an emergency cabinet formed in Israel.
He did not let his partisan gripes with Israel come anywhere near the surface.Trump did the opposite. He made claims about both Netanyahu and Gallant that may or may not be true, but are irrelevant to supporting Israel in its hour of great need. Instead of putting Israel first, he put Trump first.This problem with Trump is long standing, but in the past his policy virtues overcame his personality issues.
Not this time. Instead of behaving like a President, Trump behaved like a cheap critic, who did nothing to contribute to the support of America’s steadfast ally in the Middle East.An influential person close to Trump says Trump got bad advice. But Trump is a big boy, and what came out of his mouth was demonstrably small minded.Trump has been mad at the Jewish community in the United States for not wholeheartedly supporting him.
After all, he did good things for Israel and America’s Jews did not reciprocate, in his opinion. But the American Jewish community supports the Democratic party by around 70%. Trump knows that, but he still cannot let go of his anger.The big picture is Israel is fighting for its survival. That ought to be clear to Trump, no matter how much he is fixated on his own persona.
He should have shown leadership. He did not.Trump has a huge following in the United States. He ought to talk to his supporters and tell them about Israel’s struggle and how important it is to help Israel in any way possible. Will he do this?
I don’t know.
