Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday attacked his main GOP presidential rival for criticisms of Israel as that nation still reels from terrorist attacks that killed more than 1,200 people, including 25 Americans.
During a speech in West Palm Beach on Wednesday night, former President Donald Trump called the terrorist faction Hezbollah “very smart” and told the crowd that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “let us down.”
In the first part of his comments, Trump denounced an Israeli official for saying publicly that their government hoped Hezbollah would not attack Israel from its north as it was carrying out operations in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah attacked Israel on Tuesday.
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The latter comment referred to Netanyahu’s refusal in 2020 to help the Trump administration take out one of the world’s most notorious terrorists, Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Trump also trashed Netanyahu as unprepared for the vicious attack by Hamas on Saturday, which slaughtered hundreds of Jews.
DeSantis then slammed Trump for his remarks.
“Terrorists have murdered at least 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans and are holding more hostage, so 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 said on X, formerly Twitter.
“As President, I will stand with Israel and treat terrorists like the scum that they are.”
Trump’s campaign responded on X, arguing that Trump “was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were by telegraphing to the terrorists an area that is susceptible to an attack.”
“Smart does not equal good,” the Trump War Room account said. “It just proves Biden is stupid. And now you look stupid, Ron.”
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Yet DeSantis continued on Thursday, telling reporters in New Hampshire, “This is the time to be standing with Israel. Attacking the prime minister and the defense minister just makes no sense.”
On X, the DeSantis War Room account noted that Trump and his team had released three different statements seeking to clarify Trump’s support for Israel.
“No matter what rhetorical gymnastics act his campaign team tries to perform to attempt once again run cover for him, nobody can change the fact that last night Donald Trump showed his true colors by insulting Israelis during one of their darkest hours and simultaneously complimenting one of the terrorist groups that continue to pose a grave threat to Israelis and Americans alike,” Andrew Romeo, DeSantis’ campaign spokesman, said in a statement.
“It is disturbing and disqualifying.”
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