Trump says he’s rethinking his support for two-state solution after Oct 7, says he’d ‘protect Israel’ if war comes with Iran
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump is making it very clear these days that he would manage the U.S.-Israel alliance very differently than President Joe Biden.
For starters, Trump says that after the horrors of the Hamas invasion and slaughter of Israelis on October 7th, he is no longer convinced that a two-state solution is a good idea, even though he proposed his own version in what became widely known as the “deal of the century.”
Trump also says he would be far more supportive of Israel – and far more protective of the Jewish state – than Biden as Israel fights its radical Islamist neighbors and faces war with Iran.
Trump made the comments in a wide-ranging conversation with a reporter for TIME Magazine.
Biden is being widely criticized here in Israel and across the United States for turning his back on Israel in recent days.
Yesterday, I wrote a column for ALL ISRAEL NEWS blasting Biden for acting like he wants Israel to lose this war with Hamas.
On Wednesday, Biden announced on CNN that he has stopped sending a shipment of precision-guided bombs to Israel because Prime Minister Netanyahu has ordered Israeli military forces into Rafah against Biden’s explicit and forceful warning not to do so.
After three months of keeping the IDF out of Rafah – hoping the U.S. could broker a deal with Hamas to get all Israeli and American hostages out of Gaza – Netanyahu and the War Cabinet have decided they cannot wait any longer.
Rafah is in the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip and the place where senior Hamas leaders and some 20,000 Hamas terrorists are hiding in terror tunnels.
Netanyahu insists the only way to win this war and protect Israeli and Palestinian civilians over the long term is to vanquish Hamas fighters in Gaza once and for all.
Trump told Time National Politics Reporter Eric Cortellessa in late April: “Look, there's been no president that's done what I've done for Israel. When you look at all of the things that I've done, and it starts with the Iran nuclear deal….I ended that deal….I gave them Golan Heights. I did the embassy and in Jerusalem. Jerusalem became the capital. I built the embassy. I even built the embassy.”
Cortellessa asked, “Do you think an outcome of that war between Israel and Hamas should be a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians?”
“Most people thought it was going to be a two-state solution,” Trump replied. “I'm not sure a two-state solution anymore is gonna work.”
“There was a time when I thought two states could work,” Trump added. “Now I think two states is going to be very, very tough. I think it's going to be much tougher to get. I also think you have fewer people that liked the idea. You had a lot of people that liked the idea four years ago. Today, you have far fewer people that like that idea. There may not be another idea. You know, there are people that say that that situation is one of the toughest, the toughest to settle because children grow up and they're taught to hate Jewish people at a level that nobody thought was possible.”
Cortellessa also asked Trump: “If Iran and Israel got into a war, will you join in Israel side?”
“I have been very loyal to Israel, more loyal than any other president,” Trump replied. “I've done more for Israel than any other president. Yeah, I will protect Israel.”
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Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
