Former US President Donald Trump placed the blame for Hamas’s October 7 Massacre on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an interview with Time Magazine this week.
“Bibi Netanyahu rightfully has been criticized for what took place on Oct. 7,” Trump said.
“Oct. 7 should have never happened,” he added. “Everything was there to stop that. And a lot of people knew about it, you know, thousands and thousands of people knew about it, but Israel didn’t know about it, and I think he’s being blamed for that very strongly.”
During his time in office, Trump seemingly enjoyed warm relations with Netanyahu. He followed through on many of the Israeli Prime Minister’s priorities, such as recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel in 2019, withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, and relocating the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2017.
However, their relationship soured when Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden on winning the 2020 election. Trump, who continues to deny that Biden was the victor, was reportedly frustrated that Netanyahu didn’t show him more loyalty after everything he did for Israel.
“I had a bad experience with Bibi, and I was not happy about that. That was something I never forgot, and it showed me something,” Trump said.
