Two right-wing Israeli journalists were left “shocked to their core” after interviewing former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last week. The journalists, Ariel Kahana and Omer Lachmanovitch, had expected Trump to voice support for Israel’s war against Hamas, but instead, Trump expressed concerns about the images of devastation and called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “finish up your war” and “get to peace.”
Trump’s comments were met with disbelief by Kahana, who wrote that they sounded more like something President Joe Biden would say. Kahana noted that Trump’s message was “problematic” and couldn’t be “beautified, minimized or covered up,” adding that both Trump and Biden “are turning their rhetorical backs on Israel.”
According to Axios’ Jonathan Swan, the interview had been set up by GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, the wife of the late Sheldon Adelson.
The interview highlights a growing division between Trump and congressional Republicans, who are competing to show support for Netanyahu’s government. Trump’s comments have been met with criticism from current and former aides, who argue they are being misconstrued, according to Swan.
Swan suggests that Trump’s motivation for his comments may be a personal vendetta against Netanyahu, who congratulated Biden on his election win in 2020.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
16 Responses
OBVIOUSLY the commentators, who ACTUALLY LISTENED to the interview, DID NOT
understand what Trump said.
– He focused ONLY on the atrocities of Oct. 7. He said no one mentions Oct 7 anymore. Only on what’s happening in Gaza which -was a RESPONSE to Oct.7.
-Trump was saying he’s concerned about Israel because the world opinion is slowly turning against them. He was saying they should try to finish the War ASAP while they have whatever world support they have left.
– Trump was saying that what happened on OCT.7 was horrible & Wud never have happened if he was president cuz IRAN WHICH FUNDS ALL THE TERROR ORGANIZATIONS, HAD NO $$$$ when he was president cuz of his sanctions & no funding to them.
Ppl should stop looking for words to jump on, when Trump talks, n try to use their brains, to actually hear & understand what he’s saying!!!!!
Yeshiva world continues to suffer from TDS. We all know Trump meant that the IDF should use overwhelming force to finish off Hamas and finish the war quickly. Moron editors here
Why would anyone be shocked by this immoral degenerate skunk? You can always expect the worst
How is telling Israel to finish up the war an anti-Israel statement????
Israel gains nothing from Hamas continued existence, and a quick military solution would be in Israel’s interests. Israel may soon be at war with Iran and its allies (including Syria), and since Hamas has been crippled, it is in Israel’s interest to wipe out Hamas, make peace with Gaza, and be ready for the more serious threats on the northnern border.
I don’t think much of Trump, but the statement appears to be yet another example of quoting him out of context. At worst, he was encouraging the Israeli to do a bit of genociding to get the war over with.
I’m always amazed by the way frum people twist themselves into pretzels in order to interpret everything Trump does positively. Trump may be the one we’ll have to vote for, but I have been wary of the way he has not been saying much about the situation in Gaza. If he was strongly pro Israel, we would have been hearing plenty of ranting and raving about the situation. Instead, Trump has hardly said anything. This makes me concerned about whether or not he will be as strong a friend of Israel as he was the first time around.
rt: Actually your comment accurately describes our expectations of your comments.
While Trump is being his usual narcissistic self , Biden is set to approve the sale of 50 F15 fighter jets to Israel for 18 Billion Dollars.
Trump said it like it is: Finish the Hamas barbarians! Enough stalling and pandering to world opinion that is against anything Israel does – major or inconsequential. If Israel would have taken care of Gaza swiftly and decisively, they would have been out already. And world opinion would be the same hostile and pro barbarians anyway.
Nowayjose: why are you blaming YWN for reporting something that OTHER journalists are say? For the record I’m not the biggest Chussid of YWN.
LAKEWOOD BUBBY: I’m totally with you. I am a big Chussid of trump and have Hakoras Hatoiv for many things (unfortunately many in the frum community don’t even know half of it. Like when he donated scooters to Hatzolah or Zaka (don’t remember which one) way before the first primary elections. Or, when in 2001 after the horrific helicopter crash at the Grand Canyon, for some reason they used DONALD TRUMP’S I repeat DONALD TRUMP’s private plane which was needed) but his tone (silence) has me worried.
Nafka Minah? Daven stronger. Ain Lanu Lishon Ela B’avinu…
I thought it was very clear that he’s saying to finish the job already. Hamas should’ve been finished by now, so we don’t need months and months of negative images of war against Israel.
Netanyahu is the biggest Fraud in Jewish history he goes around the world pretending to be right wing while in actions he is radical left, this war would have ended a long time ago had a genuine right wing prime minister been in charge.
He lives on a strategy of do the absolute minimum until time and natural events cause the previous calamity to be forgotten.
Tragically most of the Israeli traditional public are hostages of his smooth talking for many years already.
@jackk
Would you rather have a narcistic president that prevents wars from happening in the first place or a senile president that allows wars to begin- killing thousands of people- but then sells arms to the country defending itself?
(You’re biased since the senile president also pays people not to work so let’s look at a hypothetical situation. If you C”V needed surgery would you go to a narcistic doctor with a proven track record or a senile doctor with a lousy record who will provide tons of pain medication after he messes up once again?)
If you believe that Trump can prevent wars on the other side of the world just because he says so then you are in a cult. Get out of it.
@jackk
I don’t believe that he can prevent wars on the other side of the world because he said so. I believe that he can prevent wars on the other side of the world because he proved that he could.
why didn’t 147 leave a comment? he is always defending the indefensible
Why are they surprised. Trump has a long history of spewing anti-Semitic nonsense, and a long history of throwing friends under the bus. Israelis are delusional if they think Trump won’t do to Israel what he did to the Kurds, the Free Syrian Army, and Afghanistan. He well sell out Israel the instant he thinks it will benefit him personally.