The former US president accused his successor of failing to help Israel “finish the job” against Hamas
US President Joe Biden has acted “like a Palestinian” in his approach to the Israeli-Hamas conflict by failing to help the Jewish state eliminate the Gaza-based militant group, Donald Trump claimed during Thursday’s first US presidential debate.
During a foreign policy segment of the CNN-moderated face-off between the two top contenders for the US presidency that took place in Atlanta, Georgia, Trump criticized Biden for failing on multiple fronts, including in his handling of the conflict in Gaza.
Biden stated that he had secured an across-the-board agreement for a three-stage plan to end the war in Gaza, which he claimed has been endorsed by “everyone from the United Nations Security Council, straight through the G7 to the Israelis and [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.”
“The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas,” Biden said.
Trump, however, claimed that his opponent was wrong to think that Hamas is “the only one who wants to keep going” and suggested that Israel is “the one that wants to go.” The former president insisted that Washington should have long allowed the Jewish State to “finish the job” against the Palestinian militants.
“He doesn’t want to do it. He’s become like a Palestinian,” Trump said of Biden. “But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian. He’s a weak one.”
Biden admitted that his administration has withheld one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel but argued that these munitions “don’t work very well in populated areas” and “kill a lot of innocent people.”
However, he claimed that his government had provided Israel with all other kinds of weapons and had “saved Israel,” proving the US to be the “biggest producer of support for Israel than anyone in the world.”
“We’ll continue to send our experts and our intelligence people so that they get Hamas like we did Bin Laden,” the president proclaimed, suggesting that Hamas has already been “greatly weakened” and “should be eliminated.”
Israel declared war on Hamas after the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise attack on the south of the country, taking over 200 hostages and leaving more than 1,200 dead. The military campaign has inflicted widespread destruction in Gaza; more than 37,000 have been killed during the months of fighting, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
