Trump's embarrassing, off-key comments on the situation in Israel

I wonder whether Donald Trump is unhappy that Hamas’ terrorist attack and Israel’s response have caused him to suffer a lack of attention. If so, it might explain his comments about Hezbollah and Benjamin Netanyahu, which look more like an attempt to stir the pot and settle scores than to provide serious analysis of the world’s hottest spot.

Trump characterized Hezbollah as “very smart” and attacked Netanyahu and Israel’s defense minister “or somebody” for negligence and stupidity, respectfully. And he said that Netanyahu let him down by not participating in the killing of an Iranian terrorist general.

Trump has this thing about praising anti-American leaders and forces for their intelligence. He’s done it for Xi, Putin, Kim Jong Un, and now Hezbollah (and “all” such terrorist groups.) Unlike calling Hitler “great,” calling our enemies smart isn’t repugnant — not if they actually are. It’s good not to underestimate enemies.

However, it’s not good to overestimate them. And I consider it disturbing that Trump consistently finds that the nation’s enemies are smart, but never seems to credit his political adversaries here at home (even those who once served in his administration) with intelligence.

Praising America’s enemies seems to be a default position for Trump, rather than a reasoned assessment. Putin, for one, has shown himself to be not very smart. His invasion of Ukraine has been a disaster for Russia — degrading the nation’s military, showing Russia to be something of a paper tiger, and wrecking the Russian economy.

We’ll see how smart Hezbollah and Hamas turn out to be. In the meantime, Trump would be better advised not to praise them for their alleged intelligence.

What about Trump’s criticism of Netanyahu and his defense minister? Trump is clearly correct, I think, in saying that Netanyahu “was not prepared and Israel was not prepared” for Hamas’ devastating attack on Saturday.

However, the timing of Trump’s criticism is problematic. The day will come when Netanyahu will have to explain this massive intelligence failure. I doubt there is a remotely satisfactory explanation.

But that time isn’t now. Now is the time for Israel and its allies to rally around Netanyahu and his government, as the prime minister’s domestic rivals, most of whom despite him, have done. To attack Netanyahu now is to detract from Israel’s national unity at a time when unity is critical.

Fortunately, I doubt that Trump’s attack will resonate in Israel. Although Trump was a great friend to Israel and Netanyahu while president, Israelis will understand that his attack on the prime minister is personal — likely the product of a deterioration of relations between the two that stems from Netanyahu’s recognition of Joe Biden as victor in the 2020 presidential race. Ever the narcissist, Trump called this “disloyalty” and directed an expletive at Netanyahu.

Put aside the fact that Trump could never show that he won that race. Netanyahu had no choice but to acknowledge Biden as the U.S. president. It would be Biden, not Trump, with whom the prime minister would have to deal.

I should also note that relations between Netanyahu and Biden have been fraught over the years. Indeed, while Biden was visiting Israel as vice president, Netanyahu announced plans to build new West Bank settlements, which was contrary to the Obama administration’s position on settlements. Rightly or wrongly, Obama, Biden, and Secretary of State Clinton took great offense at this.

Yet, Biden put that and other past disagreements behind him in Israel’s hour of need, as any responsible leader would. Trump, still fixated on his defeat at Biden’s hands and judging everything and everybody based on whether they joined him in denying that defeat, cannot do so.

Trump also claimed that Netanyahu “let him down” by not having Israel participate in the strike that killed Iranian terrorist leader Gen. Oassem Soleimani in January 2020. Israel helped supply the intelligence that led to the killing and it applauded the killing after it happened. But according to Trump, Netanyahu refused to authorize Israeli participation in the deadly attack.

Like anything Trump says, I have to wonder whether his claim is true. In this case, I also wonder whether it reveals classified information.

But let’s assume the statement is true. Netanyahu would have known that the U.S. didn’t need Israeli assistance to take out Soleimani. Thus, even if Israel didn’t assist in the killing itself, it’s a stretch to say that Netanyahu let him down. And again, yesterday was not the time to dredge up this grievance — real or imagined — for a public airing.

As for Israel’s defense minister (“or somebody”), Trump said:

[Israel] has 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.'

This statement by Trump is idiotic at multiple levels. First, Trump assumes that those very smart Hezbollah leaders didn’t know how much an attack from the north would harm Israel in the current moment until Israel’s defense minister spoke. That’s ridiculous.

Second, any responsible government, faced with a war in the south, would warn the nation’s enemies not to open a new front in the north. Nor was Trump shy about warning hostile powers against attacking the U.S.

Third, Hezbollah has not opened a major front against Israel in the north. Thus, it’s false to claim that the defense minister’s warning was counterproductive.

There might yet be a real war in the north. If so, it won’t be because Hezbollah hadn’t seen the potential advantage of waging one until the defense minister issued his warning.

Trump’s remarks about Israel and its current conflict suggest that he’s a bit unhinged. And they confirm that he is not the right leader for America in these dangerous times.