Former President Donald Trump (AP/Ben Gray)
The White House slammed Trump’s “dangerous and unhinged” remarks while DeSantis vowed to “treat terrorists like the scum that they are.”
By World Israel News Staff
Former US President Donald Trump came under fire from the White House and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for calling the Hezbollah terror group “very smart” and for denouncing Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as a “jerk.”
In a speech at a campaign rally in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, Trump recounted his reading about concerns from President Joe Biden’s security team regarding a potential Hezbollah attack on Israel from the north. He said, “Two nights ago, I read all of Biden’s security people [who] said, ‘Gee, I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack [Israel] from the north because that’s the most vulnerable spot.”
He went on to hail Hezbollah’s strategic acumen: “I said, ‘Wait a minute, Hezbollah is very smart. They’re all very smart. — The press doesn’t like it when I say that. I said that President Xi of China — 1.4 billion people. He controls it with an iron fist. — I said, ‘he’s a very smart man.’ They killed me the next day.”
He then turned his attention to Gallant, lambasting the Defense Minister’s public commentary on Israel’s security: “They have a national defense minister or somebody saying, ‘I hope Hezbollah doesn’t attack us from the north.’ So the following morning, they attacked… If you listen to this jerk, you would attack from the north because he said, ‘That’s our weak spot.'”
The White House slammed Trump’s “dangerous and unhinged” remarks.
“It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as ‘smart,'” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
DeSantis took to X to blast Trump’s comments.
“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.'”
He concluded by vowing, “As President, I will stand with Israel and treat terrorists like the scum that they are.”
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