WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unprepared for the raid by Hamas last week, former US president Donald Trump said on Wednesday.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump said Netanyahu “has been hurt very badly” due to the attack.

“He was not prepared. He was not prepared and Israel was not prepared. And under Trump, they wouldn’t have had to be prepared,” he said, drawing criticism at home and abroad.

Speaking to supporters in Florida, he called Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as “jerk” and termed “very smart” the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

“You know, Hezbollah is very smart,” Trump said. “They’re all very smart.”

A White House spokesman described Donald Trump’s comments as “dangerous and unhinged”.

“Statements like this are dangerous and unhinged. It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed organisation as ‘smart’,” Andrew Bates said.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2023