On the night of Wednesday, October 11, former U.S. President Donald Trump was in Florida delivering one of his 2024 presidential election campaign speeches. As part of the speech, he talked about the Lebanese political party and group Hezbollah and called them "very smart."
"Two nights ago, I read all of Biden's security people…they said, ‘Gee, I hope Hezbollah doesn't attack from the north [of Israel] because that's the most vulnerable spot.' I said, ‘Wait a minute. You know, Hezbollah is very smart'," Trump's statement mentioned.
As soon as his comments about Hezbollah surfaced on the social media platforms, they sparked disbelief among netizens.
For those uninitiated, Trump's comments come amid the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict that began on October 7 after the Hamas group launched a surprise attack on Israel, forcing the latter to deploy a counterstrike. Since then, over 1,500 people have lost their lives, with over 4000 injured and several others unaccounted for.
Internet calls out Donald Trump for tagging Hezbollah "very smart"
During one of his presidential campaigns in Florida, Donald Trump took the stage and went on record to say that the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah is "very smart" in reference to the Pentagon's concern that while Hamas continued to attack southern Israel, Hezbollah might strike from the north.
In fact, a senior U.S. defense official said during a press conference earlier this week:
"We are working with Israel and with our partners across the region to contain this to Gaza."
Donald Trump said that the Biden administration's concern that Hezbollah could launch an attack from the north was baseless and that the group was "very smart" and would not take such a chance now. However, as per ABC News' latest reports, Hezbollah was allegedly attempting to enter through the north of Israel.
Since Trump's remarks about Hezbollah went viral, the internet has been calling him out.
Apart from the mass outrage, Trump's Hezbollah comment also triggered a public pushback from the White House. In fact, President Joe Biden's representative Andrew Bates told the media that Trump's Hezbollah remark was "dangerous and unhinged."
It is noteworthy that in the same speech, the former President also blasted Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
"They [Israel] have a national defense minister…if you listen to this j*rk, you would attack from the north because he said that's our weak spot," Trump noted.
In response, Gallant's spokesperson told ABC that Donald Trump was making "far-fetched speculation."
As for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump pointed out in his speech that he "let us down" in reference to the death of Iranian military officer Qassem Soleimani at the hands of American soldiers. Trump said that Israeli intelligence, which helped the USA locate Soleimani, withdrew its participation on the day of the drone strike that killed the Iranian general.
He also added that if he was re-elected, he would attempt to "permanently destroy" the Hamas group, while stating he was "the best friend Israel ever had in the White House by far."
Meanwhile, Trump also added in his speech how the press never liked when he said things like praising China's President Xi Jinping and his effective rule. He also hinted that Barack Obama was allegedly an "extremist" and Biden was "dumb." The ex-President also boasted about "how much safer the world was" when he was in office and blamed the Biden administration for the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
