Trump claims Israel backed out of operation that killed Quds commander

‘Israel was a part of it. You know, Bibi was a big part of it. And we had everything planned, everything.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, former president and current 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump claimed that Israel helped plan the operation to eliminate Quds commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020 but inexplicably backed out at the last minute.

Trump said, “When we took out Soleimani, you know Israel was supposed to do it with us. Two days before the take-out they said ‘We can’t do it. We can’t do it.’ I said, ‘What?’ ‘We can’t do it.’

He continued, “Then I had a certain general, who’s great, I said, ‘so general, do we do it ourselves?’ He said, ‘We can, sir, it’s up to you.’ I said, ‘We’ll do it.”

However, Trump conceded that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was part of the planning process.

“Israel was a part of it. You know, Bibi was a big part of it. And we had everything planned, everything.”

He continued, “What Soleimani did was terrible. What he did to us was terrible. Killed so many of our soldiers. Killed so many people.”

Although Israel is thought to be involved in targeted operations that kill terrorist leaders like Soleimani, they rarely claim direct responsibility for such attacks.

However, during the weekend IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari showed video of airstrikes in Syria targeting Hezbollah leaders and said, “We will continue to act wherever it is required in the Middle East. What is true for Lebanon is true for Syria, and is true for other more distant places.”

Israel was thought to have been responsible for an airstrike that killed Sayyed Razi Mousavi in Damascus in late December.

Mousavi was senior advisor to the IRGC terror group and was in charge of coordinating military alliances between Syria and Iran.

Shortly after the attacks, Daniel Hagari said, “I won’t comment on foreign reports, these or others in the Middle East.”

However, he added, “The Israeli military obviously has a job to protect the security interests of Israel.”