Trump Seeks Broader Israel-Mideast Peace
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump has said he will try to end the war in Gaza quickly and suggested extending a regional peace deal between Israel and Arabic countries if re-elected.
He also said that he would try to seek an end to the war in Ukraine even “before taking office if that’s possible, and I think it is.”
Trump earlier said that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if he were still president and said his successor, Joe Biden, was “weak.”
In an interview with U.S. broadcaster Fox News, analyzed by Worthy News on Monday, he also condemned attitudes by Biden and other top Democrats toward Israel and the Middle East.
“Biden is so bad for Israel,” Trump said on the Fox News’ Media Buzz program. “They should never have been attacked. If Biden were good to Israel, they wouldn’t have been attacked.”
He played down Biden’s expressed support for Israel, saying, “If he were supportive of Israel, the Iran nuclear deal would have never been signed, and Israel would never have been attacked.”
The former president said Biden “dumped Israel” by allegedly refusing to support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “All of a sudden, Biden dumped Israel,” Trump stressed. “He just said essentially that Bibi Netanyahu should take a walk.”
SEARCHING FOR VOTERS
Trump added that Biden ally Chuck Schumer, the U.S. Senate’s Democratic majority leader, had also abandoned Israel in his search for voters.
After saying that people should remember that Israel “lost a lot of people” in the Hamas attack “on October 7,” Trump accused Schumer of caring more about the upcoming elections.
“He doesn’t forget it; he looks at, ‘Where do I get more votes?’ And I guess he’s seeing the Palestinians and the marches – Palestinians, and he says I want to go that way instead of Israel,” Trump said.
Trump recalled the historic Abraham Accords signed under his watch, which saw the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan normalizing ties with Israel.
He claimed that if he had been able to continue, he would have expanded the peace agreements further. “I had four great, hardline countries signed up, respected countries,” Trump stated before suggesting that he would have been able to get Iran to sign the accords, as well.
“I bet you would have had Iran in the Abraham Accords. That’s a big statement, but I would have had them all in,” he said.
There was no immediate response from Tehran, which doesn’t recognize Israel and supports several groups seeking the destruction of the Jewish nation.
ISRAEL DEFENDS WAR
Israel says it launched its war against Hamas after the “terror group murdered some 1,200 people,” mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 253 others.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claims that about 31,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the war, but the number cannot be independently verified.
Israeli sources say that among the dead are many Hamas fighters as well as civilians, some of whom were killed as a consequence of the “terror group’s own rocket misfires.”
The IDF says it has killed “more than 13,000 terrorists” in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 who were killed inside Israel on and immediately following October 7.
Despite Trump’s comments on ending the war, Israeli commentators said he and Netanyahu have had “a checkered relationship.”
They recalled that Trump indicated that he had not forgiven the Israeli prime minister for congratulating Joe Biden after he was declared the winner in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump maintains that the election outcome, which the U.S. Congress recognized, was “rigged” and denies he was defeated.
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