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comp / comp.os.linux.advocacy / Trump's turn against Israel offers stark reminder of what his diplomacy looks like

Subject: Trump's turn against Israel offers stark reminder of what his diplomacy looks like
From: Kikestein
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Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2024 17:14 UTC
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From: Kikestein3@gmail.com (Kikestein)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh,comp.os.linux.advocacy,rec.arts.tv
Subject: Trump's turn against Israel offers stark reminder of what his diplomacy looks like
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2024 17:14:37 -0000 (UTC)
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Donald Trump�s inflammatory and artless comments about Hamas� horror in
Israel emphasize the defining characteristic of his attitude toward
foreign policy and his entire political world view: It�s all about him.

Trump criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lauded
Hezbollah militants as �very smart� and sought political gain from the
attacks that killed 1,200 people by claiming that if the last election
was not �rigged,� he�d be the American president and they�d never have
happened.

The ex-president openly admitted a grievance against Netanyahu,
complaining he had pulled out at the last minute from joining the US air
attack that assassinated Iranian intelligence chief Qasem Soleimani in
Iraq in 2020. Trump had previously fumed over the Israeli leader�s
perceived disloyalty in recognizing he lost the election.

Trump is now a private citizen, and it�s possible he wouldn�t have
addressed the situation in the same way if he were president � although
there were multiple examples of his tone deafness and indiscretion when
he was in the White House. But he�s also the 2024 Republican front-runner
for president and his statements are therefore scrutinized for clues over
how he would behave in office. His latest comments add to plentiful
evidence that a second Trump term would be even more riotous at home and
globally disruptive than his first four years in power.

The former president�s remarks also offered an opening to his GOP
rivals, who accused him of behavior unsuitable for a potential commander
in chief after an ally came under attack amid horrendous scenes of
carnage in which some Americans were also killed. Some bemoaned his
apparent admiration for Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia group that is
hostile toward Israel.

�He�s a fool. Only a fool would make those kinds of comments,� former New
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has rooted his campaign in criticizing
Trump�s suitability for office, told CNN.

�Only a fool would give comments that could give aid and comfort to
Israel�s adversary in this situation,� Christie continued. �This is
someone who cares, not about the American people, not about the people of
Israel, but he cares about one person and one person only, the person he
sees in the mirror when he wakes up in the morning.�

The former president tried to defuse the growing controversy on Thursday
evening, releasing a statement in which he insisted that �there was no
better friend or ally of Israel� than him. He accused President Joe Biden
of weakness and incompetence. �With President Trump back in office,
Israel, and everyone else, will be safe again!� he said. The former
president was continuing the clean-up on Friday on his Truth Social
platform, praising what he said was the �skill and determination� of the
Israel Defense Forces and later posting �#IStandWithBibi.�

Trump�s original grievance-based analysis reflects a transactional,
unorthodox approach to foreign policy that often prioritizes his own
personal goals over a standard understanding of the national interest. It
also highlighted a contrast with his potential 2024 election opponent.
Biden reacted to the attack by using all of the tools of traditional
statesmanship, including rhetoric, personal behind-the-scenes contacts
with key foreign leaders and by mobilizing allies. Like Trump, Biden has
had a personal and political beef with Netanyahu � but shelved his
differences with him weeks before the attack and has been in constant
contact with the prime minister since it occurred.

Biden is seeking to strike a balance. He has shown the most ardent
support for Israel of any recent US president and acknowledged its desire
to retaliate and reestablish its sense of security after the most
shocking penetration of its borders and national psyche in 50 years. But
Biden is also sending private and public signals to Netanyahu that
Israel�s response should not infringe the laws of war and that he should
consider the humanitarian consequences of an invasion of Gaza, as he
seeks to prevent the war escalating into a dangerous regional conflict
that could draw in the US.

Biden�s opponents have every right to critique his foreign policies and
to ask whether a hands-off approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
meant his administration dismissed the threat from Hamas. Critics also
argue his attempts to open dialogue with Iran, a key sponsor of the
militant group, emboldened the Islamic Republic and threatened Israel�s
security. But Biden is also forging a contrast of temperament and
approach with Trump that will be at the center of his campaign�s
narrative if the 2024 election is a rematch of 2020 and will boil down to
this question to voters: Is Trump fit for the Oval Office?
Trump singles out Netanyahu

Trump said on Fox News on Wednesday that Netanyahu had been �hurt very
badly� by the attacks. �He was not prepared, and Israel was not
prepared,� the former president said. His comments were not necessarily
wrong and the intelligence and political failures in Israel will be
investigated after the war. But the timing and tone of criticism is
questionable given that Israel, one of America�s closest allies, is
suffering after a horrendous attack on civilians and is in need of
support not political points scoring and second guessing. His willingness
to trash Netanyahu, despite the Israeli leader�s considerable efforts to
align himself politically with the ex-president, also shows how loyalty
is usually a one-way street for Trump and those who he believes have
crossed him are liable to get a public dressing down.

Trump�s comments were not the first time he has appeared to seek a
political benefit from his foreign policy and his positions on Israel
especially. Last October, he complained that American Jews were not
sufficiently grateful to him for actions like moving the US embassy from
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem when he was in the White House.

�No President has done more for Israel than I have,� Trump wrote on his
Truth Social network, adding that it was somewhat surprising that �our
wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people
of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.� He was accused
of using antisemitic tropes demanding the loyalty of American Jews. The
White House said he insulted Jews and Israelis.

Trump�s remarks Wednesday on Hezbollah, which has the capacity to rain
even more carnage on Israel, also appeared inappropriate in the
circumstances. �They�re vicious, and they�re smart. And, boy, are they
vicious, because nobody�s ever seen the kind of sight that we�ve seen,�
Trump said during a political event in Florida. His statement was in
keeping with his habit of praising foreign adversaries he sees as tough
even if they rule with an iron fist, infringe basic humanitarian values
and are US adversaries. He�s rarely concealed his admiration of Chinese
President Xi Jinping and North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un, for instance.
And he added to his long record of praising Vladimir Putin � an accused
war criminal because of atrocities committed during the war in Ukraine �
when he recently described the Russian leader as �a genius.�

Trump often appeared to be willing to cede national interests to his
political benefit while in office. For instance, at a summit with Putin
in Helsinki he sided with Putin who dismissed findings by US intelligence
agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election in attempt to help
him.

The former president is advocating a return to his �America First�
nationalist foreign policy, prizes tough talk and ruthlessness on the
global stage, and remains disdainful of allies and the international
security architecture that has been the foundation of American power
since the end of World War II. While these are positions that would
represent a sharp transformation of US foreign policy, it is quite
legitimate for him to present them to voters and try to win support for
his vision.

Yet his recent comments will only reinforce the impression often left by
his actions as president that his own aspirations are most important.
They also show Trump�s quintessential contempt for the rules of politics,
foreign policy and even basic human decency, which explain why he
horrifies many Americans and foreign governments. But this behavior is
key to his authenticity for grass roots Republicans who abhor the codes
of what they see as establishment elites.
Trump�s remarks on Soleimani may have crossed a line

Trump during the Florida event criticized Israel for not taking part in
the raid that killed Soleimani. �I�ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu
let us down. That was a very terrible thing, I will say that,� he said.
It was not immediately clear whether Israel had considered an operational
role in the strike or whether Trump had broken a confidence with an ally
or even revealed classified information.

The ex-president has a record however of loose talk on government
secrets. He has been indicted over the alleged mishandling of national
security material among classified documents he hoarded at his Mar-a-Lago
resort after leaving office. Last week, ABC News reported that Trump
allegedly shared US secrets about the submarine service and nuclear
weapons with an Australian billionaire. Trump denies all wrongdoing.

The ex-president�s GOP rivals, who have struggled to exploit his
political vulnerabilities without alienating his super loyal supporters
pounced on his criticism of Netanyahu.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis accused Trump of throwing �verbal grenades� at
Israel. �Now�s not the time to be doing, like, what Donald Trump did by
attacking Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, attacking Israel�s defense
minister, saying somehow that Hezbollah were �very smart,�� DeSantis said
in New Hampshire. �Now�s not the time to air personal grievances about an
Israeli prime minister.� Former Vice President Mike Pence hammered
Trump�s foreign policy � even though he was part of the former
president�s administration that repeatedly challenged American values.
Pence also claimed that Trump had somehow changed in his years out of
office, a debatable proposition that looks self-serving since it appears
intended to create plausible distance from Trump�s excesses while in
office.

�He�s simply not expressing, and his imitators in his primary, are not
expressing the same muscular American foreign policy that we lived out
every day,� Pence said on a local New Hampshire radio.

What Trump is expressing is his idiosyncratic, convention-busting brand
of foreign policy rooted in his personal prejudices, grievances and
search for political advantage that will once again rock the world if he
wins the 2024 election.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/13/politics/donald-trump-israel-netanyahu-
diplomacy/index.html

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o Trump's turn against Israel offers stark reminder of what his diplomacy looks li

By: Kikestein on Sat, 24 Aug 2024

2Kikestein

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