US Election 2024, Donald Trump

North Carolina, USA (Netavisen): Presidential candidate Donald Trump recently gave an interview to journalists from the Israeli newspaper israelhayom.co.il.

The interview sheds light on what the former president thinks about the war in the Middle East now. The answers shocked us, writes commentator Ariel Kahane in the newspaper.

Journalists were shocked

The former president said in the interview that Israel is losing the support it has in the conflict, and that photos and videos of the devastation in Gaza are affecting Israel's reputation. Trump himself claimed that at one point he was watching videos of the devastation in Gaza every night.

“You don't have the support you had before. 15 years ago, Israel had the strongest lobby. If you were a politician, you wouldn't be able to say anything negative about Israel. That would be the end of your political career. Today it's almost the opposite.”

While Trump stressed that he supports Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas, he urged Israel to end the war soon.

“You gotta end your war. You guys gotta get it done. We gotta have peace. This can't go on,” Trump said during the interview.

The commentator believes that Trump has gone further than Biden, who he points out is positioned on the left in politics.

The Israeli commentator says: “There is no way to beautify, diminish, or cover up the problematic message.” The newspaper also expected that Trump would condemn Hamas, saying that Israel would destroy the organization.

Kahane interprets the statements – and the absence of statements – to mean that both US presidential candidates, both Biden and Trump, are now turning their “rhetorical back” to Israel.

Last week, the UN Security Council agreed to demand a ceasefire. The United States did not veto the resolution, for which President Biden was criticized.

– Totally unpredictable

Trump's spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt confirmed after the interview that Trump supports Israel's right to defend itself and eliminate the terrorist threat. But Israel's interests will be best served if it does so quickly and humanely, according to Levitt The New York Times.

It is still unknown what Trump believes Israel should do to stop the war. The presidential candidate did not propose a solution. Trump blames Biden for the conflict, and claimed that neither the Ukraine war nor the war in the Middle East would have happened if he had been president. But it is uncertain what the presidential candidate will do if he wins the presidential election in November.

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Where does Trump really stand?

Trump's foreign policy is completely unpredictable. The American expert and professor at the Norwegian University of Applied Sciences, Hjalmar Melde, told Netavisen that foreign policy depends on what serves his own political interests and whether he likes or hates heads of state in other countries on a purely personal basis.

He adds that other than the perception that other countries are exploiting the United States, Trump has no real opinions or consistent policies.

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– Reading the political mood

The American expert points out that Trump changes in public what he thinks and where he stands according to what the majority of voters believe.

Trump has incredible taste and is very smart when it comes to reading the political mood in the country. He is now able to appear moderate and reasonable on divisive issues such as abortion and the war in Gaza.

But this is not necessarily negative for Israel.

Trump realizes that Israel has strong bipartisan support in the United States. So, if Trump wins, he will pursue a very pro-Israel foreign policy. Just as in his first term, Milde predicted.