Donald Trump said “I would act very much the same way as [Israel] did. You would have to be crazy not to,” in response to an attack like Hamas committed on October 7th before saying in his response to the very next question, “I think Israel made a very big mistake [in the way it responded to the attack]. I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it.”
According to the transcript in Israel Hayom, Trump was asked how he would respond to an attack if his “children and grandchildren” were kidnapped and attacked, “I would say I would act very much the same way as you did. You would have to be crazy not to. Only a fool would not do that. That was a horrible attack.”
The next question asked how Trump would “counter the wave of antisemitism in the wake of the war’s outbreak?” Without thinking, Trump responded, “Well, that’s because you fought back. And I think Israel made a very big mistake. I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it. These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza. And I said, Oh, that’s a terrible portrait. It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people. It would say it was given by the Defense Ministry, and said whoever’s providing that that’s a bad image.” So Trump would “do that” but not “do it.”