Former President Donald Trump is facing criticism from his fellow 2024 presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle for a speech in which he called the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “very smart” as the war between Hamas and Israel rages in the Middle East.
Also in his speech in West Palm Beach, Fla., the former president recounted a story in which he claimed that Israel pulled out of the 2020 airstrike that killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the process.
“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down,” Trump said. “That was a very terrible thing, I will say that. And so when I see sometimes the intelligence, you talk about the intelligence or you talk about some of the things that went wrong over the last week, they’ve got to straighten it out. They’re fighting a very big force, they’re fighting potentially Iran, and when they have people saying the wrong things, everything they say is being digested by these people, because they’re vicious and they’re smart, and boy are they vicious.”
“We were disappointed by that, very disappointed,” he continued of the 2020 strike. “But we did the job ourself and it was absolute precision, magnificent, beautiful job … and then Bibi tried to take credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good, but that’s all right.”
The White House on Thursday slammed the former president’s characterization of Hezbollah as “dangerous and unhinged.” Both Hezbollah and Hamas have long been funded by Iran.
“It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as “smart,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. “Or have any objection to the United States warning terrorists not to attack Israel.”
“Especially now as Israel is fighting back against one of the worst acts of mass murder in the country’s history,” Bates added.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who, along with Trump, is seeking to be the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2024 also took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to push back on the former president’s comment.
“It is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists as “very smart,”” DeSantis wrote. “As President, I will stand with Israel and treat terrorists like the scum that they are.”
In a speech to supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida on Wednesday, Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of the war since Hamas’ attack on Israel last weekend and specifically pointed to Hezbollah firing rockets and shells across the border with Israel.
“Two nights ago, I read all of Biden’s security people — can you imagine, national defense people? And they said, ‘gee, I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack from the north because that’s the most vulnerable spot.’ I said, ‘wait a minute, you know, Hezbollah is very smart. They’re all very smart,’” the former president said.
“And they have a national defense minister or somebody saying, ‘I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack us from the north,’” Trump went on. “So the following morning they attacked. 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.”
The president himself took to X to respond to his predecessor’s comments. Biden reposed a part from Trump’s speech in which he criticized Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, writing “Our nation’s support for Israel is resolute and unwavering. And the right time to praise the terrorists who seek to destroy them is never.”
The White House sought to contrast Trump’s response to the war with Biden’s. The president has pledged unwavering support for Israel in multiple speeches on the topic since Saturday’s attack, including one in which he characterized the acts of Hamas as “sheer evil.”
“This is a time for all of us to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel against ‘unadulterated evil.’ That’s what the President is doing as commander in chief,” Bates said.
A handful of Democrats and many Republicans, including Trump, have criticized the Biden administration’s recent decision to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian money as part of a prisoner exchange. The White House says the money can only be used by Iranian officials for humanitarian purposes such as food and medicine and none of it has been spent yet.
