Former President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post today that Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel would have never happened had he been in office—”not even a small chance.”
In the post, Trump said that “Israel will find, very sadly, that there are far fewer hostages than currently being thought.”
“That’s why it’s hard for Hamas to make a deal,” he wrote. “They are no longer able to produce the people, because many of them are gone.”
Trump also alleged that “Hamas is incapable of holding Jewish people for a long period of time without killing them.” Not all the hostages initially taken by Hamas are Jewish—some are Muslim and some are Thai foreign workers. Hamas killed some of the Israeli hostages while holding them in captivity.
He also criticized Biden by saying that the president hasn’t shown any leadership since the Oct. 7 attack.
Trump’s post follows another Truth Social statement in which he called for an end to encampments at universities across the country protesting war profiteering by colleges and the 34,000 Palestinian casualties in the Israeli-Hamas war.
On Oct. 7, Hamas, a Palestinian military group, killed 1,200 Israeli civilians and took 240 people hostage, many of whom were Israeli military officers. Almost half of the hostages have been released—but it’s unclear how many are still alive in captivity. According to Hamas, more than 70 have been killed by Israeli airstrikes. Israel reported that 30 hostages have died.
During his presidency, Trump had a close and positive relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But after Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his presidential win in 2020, Trump reportedly soured on him. Trump changed his tune shortly after Oct. 7, but still criticizes Israel.
“Israel is absolutely losing the P.R. war,” Trump said earlier this month. “They’re losing it big. But they’ve got to finish what they started, and they’ve got to finish it fast.”
For his part, Biden staunchly supported Netanyahu in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack and has continued to send Israel military aid. Going forward, however, Biden communicated to Netanyahu that continued U.S. support for Israel is conditional on the protection of Palestinian civilians.
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