Former President Donald Trump criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden by saying that if he was in office, Israel “would be flourishing.”
The comments from Trump came as he was speaking to more than 3,500 of his supporters at a Palm Beach, Florida, convention center.
During the speech, Trump discussed how he helped move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and signed the Avraham Accords, which formalized diplomatic relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
Amidst the praise for himself, Trump took a shot at Netanyahu and Biden, starting with the president, saying he was “grossly incompetent” and his administration was full of “stupid people.”
“Israel would be flourishing. They would have no problem,” he said. “Iran would have never played that game.”
He went on to say that the world is facing “chaos, bloodshed, war, terror, death,” warning that World War III was on the horizon.
Trump then set his sights on Netanyahu, whom he has often criticized after the Israeli Prime Minister congratulated Biden for winning the 2020 election.
“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing,” Trump said, referring to Israel not helping the U.S. in the drone strike in 2020 that killed Suleimani, the leader of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps responsible for secret military operations.
The remarks from Trump were quickly criticized by Republicans and Democrats.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s main challenger for the GOP nominee, said on X that “it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel.”
Since Hamas began its attack on Israel last Saturday, Netanyahu has declared war, and more than 1,200 Israelis and over 1,100 militants and Palestinians have been killed.
The State Department shared on Wednesday that 22 Americans were among those killed in the attacks. Meanwhile, 17 remain unaccounted for.