Donald Trump has now suggested that he could also travel to Israel following President Joe Biden’s historic wartime visit on Wednesday.
The former president spoke to reporters during a break in his New York civil fraud trial on Wednesday – a case that threatens to topple his business empire in the Big Apple and land him with $250m in financial penalties.
“If I was president, Israel would not have been attacked. It was visually attacked. It would not have been attacked,” he said.
“Ukraine would not have been attacked. You take a look at what’s going on throughout the world. The world right now is a mess, it’s a mess. And it’s a very sad day.”
When asked if he plans to head to Israel, Mr Trump replied: “I may. I may go, I may go.”
Mr Trump’s comments came while Mr Biden was in Tel Aviv meeting with Israeli leaders in what marks an extraordinary wartime visit which cements the US’s strong show of support for Israel amid its escalating war with Hamas.
The president touched down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning where he was instantly greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the tarmac, with the two allies embracing each other.
In a press conference, Mr Biden urged Israel not to be “consumed by anger” as he doubled down on the US’s support while also pledging $100m in US humanitarian aid to Palestinians displaced by the war.
In powerful remarks, he likened the attacks by Hamas on Israel to the September 11 terrorist attacks on America.
“I caution this while you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes,” he said.
“I’ve made wartime decisions. I know the choices are never clear or easy for leadership. There’s always cost. It requires being deliberate.
“It requires asking very hard questions. It requires clarity about the objectives, and an honest assessment about whether the path you’re on while achieve those objectives.”
Trump speaks to reporters during break in fraud trial— (AFP via Getty Images)
He also said that the Hamas attacks “brought to the surface painful memories of antisemitism” seen in the Holocaust.
“The brutality we saw would have cut deep anywhere in the world, but it cuts deeper here in Israel. October 7th, which was a sacred to – a sacred Jewish holiday, became the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. It has brought to the surface painful memories and scars left by a millennia of antisemitism and the genocide of the Jewish people,” he said.
While he said the world watched that happen back then, he vowed this time around that won’t happen.
“The world watched then, it knew, and the world did nothing. We will not stand by and do nothing again. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever,” he said.
He insisted that Israel is “not alone”: “I come to Israel with a single message: you’re not alone, you’re not alone. As long as the US stands – it will stand forever – you will not be alone.”
His visit came just hours after an explosion rocked the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday night, with the death toll feared to be in the hundreds. Israel has blamed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad for the attack, saying it was the result of a misfired rocket targeting Israel. Meanwhile, the PIJ has denied any involvement and Hamas has blamed Israel.
Mr Biden made the US’s stance on the attack clear almost as soon as he touched down in Tel Aviv, saying that it “appears” that the deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital was “done by the other team” and not at the hands of Israel.
“I’m deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday,” he said.
“Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you. But there’s a lot of people out there not sure, so we have to overcome a lot of things,” he said.
When asked later what made him sure that Israel wasn’t behind the explosion, Mr Biden said that his comments were based on data from the US Defense Department.
Biden during wartime visit in Tel Aviv— (AP)
The explosion plunged Mr Biden’s visit into turmoil before he even set off from the White House on Tuesday night as his Middle East summit in Amman, Jordan, was abruptly cancelled as both King Abdullah and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority suddenly pulled out.
The White House downplayed the cancellation and said that Mr Biden had spoken with the Middle East leaders after the hospital explosion.
On his journey back to Washington DC on Wednesday, he then spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and agreed to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip “in a sustainable manner”.
Mr Trump meanwhile has come under fire for his response since Hamas launched attacks on Israel back on 7 October.
In a speech to his supporters hours after the attacks, Mr Trump called Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah “very smart” and accused the Israeli prime minister of being unprepared.
His comments prompted backlash from the White House and his former vice president and 2024 rival Mike Pence who said: “Hezbollah aren’t smart. They’re evil.”
In another rally, he then vowed to expand his Muslim travel ban to bar refugees from war-torn Gaza if he takes back the White House in 2024.
