‘YOU’RE LOSING SUPPORT’ OVER GAZA WAR, TRUMP TELLS ISRAELI NEWSPAPER

Mon 25 March 2024:

US presidential candidate Donald Trump says he would have reacted the same way Israel did after Hamas’s October 7 attacks but Israel is losing international support and should wrap up its war in Gaza.

Trump told the Israeli newspaper Hayom in an interview that Hamas’s attacks were “one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen”.

“That being said, you have to finish up your war. You have to finish it up. You got to get it done,” Trump said in the interview.

“And I will say, Israel has to be very careful because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support. You have to finish up. You have to get the job done.”

The Republican also lashed out at Democratic politicians, including US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, for criticising Netanyahu.

“I think it’s a terrible thing to do,” Trump said of recent remarks by Schumer calling for early elections in Israel.

What the US supports in the UNSC resolution

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says the resolution’s failure to condemn the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel was one of the reasons why the US abstained from voting in favour of the measure, which calls for a lasting and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all captives held in Gaza.

“That’s why we didn’t vote for it. But the reason we didn’t veto it is because there are also things in that resolution that were consistent with our long-term position,” he added, including “a ceasefire and that there should be a release of hostages, which is also what we understood to be the government of Israel’s position”.

US disappointed at Netanyahu’s decision to cancel Israeli delegation’s US trip

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller tells reporters during a briefing in Washington that it is “surprising and unfortunate” that an Israeli delegation is no longer coming to scheduled talks this week after the US abstained from a UN vote demanding an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Miller added that a ground offensive in Rafah, the last refuge for about half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population after the arrival of many people displaced by fighting elsewhere, would be a mistake and would weaken Israel’s security.

No shift in Gaza policy despite UNSC resolution abstention: US

The White House says Washington’s abstention from a UN vote demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza “does not represent a shift in our policy, … but because the final text does not have the language that we think is essential, like a condemnation of Hamas, we could not support it”.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said US officials are “very disappointed about Netanyahu’s decision not to send his advisers for talks at the White House about the Rafah operation”.

Earlier, US and Israeli media reported that Netanyahu cancelled the departure of an Israeli delegation for talks at the White House on its planned Rafah offensive after the US abstained on the vote on the Security Council resolution.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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