Former President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Friday, just after the Israeli leader met with President Biden and VP Harris.
Trump claimed in the context of the meeting that a major war in the Middle East - and even possibly a "third world war" - will break out if he doesn't win the election. He's long been running as the candidate who will deescalate global hotspots that Washington is too deeply embedded in.
"If we win, it’ll be very simple. It’s all going to work out and very quickly," Trump told reporters just before the meeting's start.
"If we don’t, you’re going to end up with major wars in the Middle East and maybe a third world war. You are closer to a third world war right now than at any time since the second world war. You’ve never been so close, because we have incompetent people running our country," he said.
Likely he had in mind the Russia-Ukraine war, and the Israel-Hamas conflict, given he has made similar comments of these flashpoints in the past. However, he's never put it so bluntly as to say world war three could result if he loses.
He also reflected on controversy left in the wake of Netanyahu's meeting with VP Harris. The Israeli leader was reportedly upset with Harris' post-meeting statement, where she said she would "not be silent" at the mounting civilian Palestinian casualties and suffering.
"Harris' statement after the meeting was much more critical than what she told Netanyahu in the meeting," one Israeli official told Axios. According to more, "The Israeli official also said Netanyahu was unhappy with the fact that Harris criticized Israel publicly for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and for killing civilians, especially at the current timing amid the hostage deal negotiations."
Trump said going into the meeting with Netanyahu that Harris' remarks on the Gaza war were "disrespectful". Referencing Harris and the Biden administration, and Democrats broadly, Trump said "They weren’t very nice pertaining to Israel. I actually don’t know how a person who is Jewish could vote for her, but that’s up to them."
Trump also said something a bit unusual pertaining to Iran and the possibility of a future US war on Tehran...
Uh, what? pic.twitter.com/JIz1HIpnpt
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) July 26, 2024
He said in social media statement that Iran must be wiped out if it ever carries out an assassination against a future President Trump.
The comment appeared in follow-up to Netanyahu's fiery Wednesday speech before Congress. The prime minister focused a lot of the talk on Iran, and described that it remains behind "all the terrorism" and "all the killing". He then asserted that the Islamic Republic "brazenly threatened to assassinate President Trump."
