Trump: Netanyahu failed to prevent October 7, and there are very good leaders who could take over his position

In an interview with Time magazine, former US President Donald Trump sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing him as a "failure" and that other leaders could do a good job.

Trump said, “The criticism to which Netanyahu was rightly subjected was due to his failure to prevent the Al-Aqsa Flood operation carried out by Hamas on October 7, and this happened during his term in office.

He continued: “October 7 should never have happened... Everything was in place to stop it, and many people were aware of it, and you know thousands of people were aware of it, but Israel was not aware of it, and I think Netanyahu is to blame for it.” "That's hard."

In response to whether he believes it is time for Netanyahu to leave power and whether he could work better with Gantz, he demurred, saying: “I think Benny Gantz is a good person, but I am not ready to say that. I have not spoken to him about it. But there are some "The very good people I met in Israel who can do a good job."

Regarding whether he would consider stopping military aid to Israel to force it to withdraw from the war, Trump replied that he “does not rule out this possibility, but if Iran attacks Israel, we will be there.”

Opinion polls in Israel show that Netanyahu is lagging behind his main political rival, retired General Benny Gantz, who called for elections in September. This left Netanyahu struggling to muster popular support to remain in office, and Trump turned on Netanyahu.

Trump once touted his close relationship with Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister. When Trump was president, he pursued many of Netanyahu's priorities, as Trump removed the United States from the Iranian nuclear agreement, recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel, and moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

But the relationship soured when Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his victory in the 2020 elections and issued a video address on the occasion of Biden's inauguration. Trump, who continues to deny that Biden was the rightful victor, was reportedly frustrated that Netanyahu did not show him more loyalty.

Trump also complained about Israel's withdrawal from the 2020 US-led strike in Iraq that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Trump told Time magazine: “I had a bad experience with Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu), and I was not happy about it. That was something I never forgot. He made something clear to me.”