The day before Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-A-Lago, the former US president has a message for Israel: end the war quickly and bring the hostages home as soon as possible.
Trump is urging a quick end the conflict, and in a rare moment of criticism said that Israel must better manage its "public relations." The war should stop quickly "because they are getting decimated with this publicity, and you know Israel is not very good at public relations," Trump said a new Fox interview.
Trump has repeatedly blamed Biden's foreign policy weakness for enabling the whole crisis in the first place, having previously asserted that the Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and resulted in full-blown war would not have happened if he had been in the White House.
In the fresh interview Trump also lashed out at yesterday's anti-Netanyahu protests in Washington which included shocking scenes of people burning the American flag.
"You should get a one year jail sentence if you do anything to desecrate the American flag," Trump said. "Now, people will say, 'Oh it’s unconstitutional.' Those are stupid people. Those are stupid people that say that," he continued.
"We have to work in Congress to get a one-year jail sentence. When they’re allowed to stomp on the flag and put lighter fluid on the flag and set it afire, when you’re allowed to do that — you get a one-year jail sentence and you’ll never see it again," Trump added.
Meanwhile, the White House also reacted on Thursday to the scenes of chaotic protests and flag burnings, saying "Identifying with evil terrorist organizations like Hamas, burning the American flag, or forcibly removing the American flag and replacing it with another, is disgraceful."
The statement by deputy press secretary Andrew Bates continued, "Antisemitism and violence are never acceptable. Period." He added: "Every American has the right to peaceful protest. But shamefully, not everyone demonstrated peacefulness today."
Netanyahu is expected at the White House on Friday, after which he'll travel to Florida to meet with Trump. A visit with Vice President Kamala Harris is also on the agenda.