Biden’s ‘a bad Palestinian’: Trump says he wants Israel to continue Gaza war
Donald Trump attacked US President Joe Biden for not being supportive enough of Israel’s war on Gaza, using a remark that denigrated Palestinians while going on to say that he supports the continuation of Israel’s military operation.
The comments were made during the first 2024 presidential debate between the current and the former US president, an event projected to be seen by 60 percent of American adults.
When a question about Israel’s war on Gaza was brought up and what the US was doing to bring home American hostages, Biden blamed Hamas for not accepting a ceasefire agreement proposed by Israel and said Hamas is the only one that wants to continue the war — Netanyahu publicly said he opposes a permanent ceasefire agreement.
“He said the only one who wants to keep going is Hamas. Actually, Israel is the one [that wants to continue the war], and you should let them go and let them finish the job,” Trump said in a response.
“He doesn’t want to do it. He’s become like a Palestinian, but they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian. He’s a weak one,” Trump added in a racist retort.
The war on Gaza played a minor role in the debate but Trump’s comments appear to diverge from remarks he made months earlier. In April, he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt: “What I said very plainly is get it over with and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people.”
“I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it,” he added.
He went on to say that while he wanted Israel to achieve its goals in Gaza, it was “taking a long time”.
He also openly criticised the footage released by Israel’s military that showed the destruction of Gaza, saying they were “the most heinous, most horrible tapes of buildings falling down”.
In April, Trump also did not rule out ending military aid to Israel over its military campaign in Gaza during an interview with Time magazine.
Trump told Time: “I think that Israel has done one thing very badly: public relations.”
He was then asked about if he would rule out withholding or conditioning aid to Israel. The former president responded, “no”.
A battle for who is more pro-Israel
Israel’s war on Gaza began on 7 October, when Palestinian fighters led by Hamas broke out of Gaza and led a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking at least 240 hostages back to the enclave.
Israel responded with a declaration of war, launching first an indiscriminate bombing campaign followed by a ground invasion of Gaza.
Israeli forces have killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, laid siege to and attacked hospitals, targeted other civilian infrastructure, including schools and mosques, and attacked medical workers.
Since the beginning of the war, Biden stood firmly behind Israel, visiting the country and becoming the first US president to visit there during a war.
The Biden administration has also fast-tracked millions of dollars of weapons and munitions to Israel, and has called for additional military support to the country.
His unrelenting support for the war grew unpopular amongst the American public as the first several months went by, and in March, The New York Times reported that Biden’s donors were concerned his policy on Gaza would lose him the presidency.
Meanwhile, Trump, who came into the debate with a narrow edge over Biden in several polls, has often touted that he is the most pro-Israel president in US history.
The topic of Gaza, which has sparked one of the largest mass mobilisations in the US against Israel’s war in recent decades, only received a few minutes on the presidential debate stage.
But while the majority of Americans, according to recent polling, disapprove of Israel’s actions in the enclave, Trump and Biden were battling for who would be more supportive of Israel.