Joe Biden’s decision to make a wartime trip to Israel this week is the biggest diplomatic gamble of his presidency. The visit also carries high political stakes closer to home. By steadfastly backing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack across the Gaza border, Biden has outflanked his most likely Republican challenger: Donald Trump.
Last week, Trump launched personal and at times bizarre attacks on the Israeli prime minister. “[Netanyahu] has been hurt very badly because of what’s happened here. He was not prepared,” Trump told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade. At a campaign rally in West Palm Beach, Trump told his supporters that Netanyahu backed out of participating in the American drone attack in 2020 that killed Iranian general Qassim Suleimani. “I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing,” Trump said, divulging highly sensitive intelligence. Trump also lavished praise on the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, keeping with his habit of complimenting authoritarian regimes. “You know, Hezbollah is very smart,” Trump said. “They’re all very smart.”
Trump’s comments ignited a firestorm of bipartisan criticism. According to sources, Trump advisers are worried that Trump could alienate hawkish American Jews, who have been voting increasingly Republican in recent elections. “His Israel comments were a disaster,” a former Trump White House official told me. Like virtually every political position Trump takes, his attack on Netanyahu was driven by grievance. “Trump definitely has an axe to grind with Bibi. It’s 100% personal,” a prominent Jewish Republican close to Trump told me. Sources say Trump turned against Netanyahu because Netanyahu didn’t give Trump enough credit for his pro-Israel foreign policy. But what angered Trump the most, sources said, was that Netanyahu refused to endorse Trump’s 2020 stolen election lies. During an April 2021 interview with Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, Trump unloaded on Netanyahu. “The first person that congratulated [Biden] was Bibi Netanyahu, the man that I did more for than any other person I dealt with… I haven’t spoken to [Bibi] since. F**k him.”
Trump has also angered Jews by exploiting the hostage crisis for political gain. “This never would have happened if I were President,” Trump told a Jewish leader on the phone, according to a person briefed on the call.
“President 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,” a Trump spokesperson said in a statement. “Smart does not equal good. It just proves Biden is stupid.” The campaign also pointed to a moment in the speech in which Trump promises, if elected, that the US “will fully support Israel, defeating, dismantling, and permanently destroying the terrorist group, Hamas.”
The Biden White House, meanwhile, has seized on Trump’s “very smart” comment to portray him unfit for office. “Statements like this are dangerous and unhinged,” Andrew Bates, the deputy White House press secretary, said in a statement. “It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as ‘smart.’ Or have any objection to the United States warning terrorists not to attack Israel.” A prominent Jewish Democrat told me Biden even has an opportunity to win Evangelical support. “Evangelicals love Israel. They love Bibi,” he said.
Trump’s GOP rivals are also seeking to capitalize on the controversy by openly criticizing Trump, something they’ve been reluctant to do. “You’re not going to find me throwing verbal grenades at Israeli leadership,” Ron DeSantis said last Thursday in New Hampshire. Also campaigning in the Granite State, Nikki Haley told supporters: “Who cares what [Trump] thinks about Netanyahu? This is not about that. This is about the people of Israel.” On Monday, a Chris Christie–aligned Super PAC released a new ad blasting Trump for denigrating Netanyahu. “Only a fool would make those kinds of comments,” Christie says in the ad. “Only a fool would give comments that could give aid and comfort to Israel’s adversary.”
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