The US vice president is “incompetent,” and will escalate the crisis in the Middle East, her Republican rival has claimed
Donald Trump, the former US President and Republican candidate, has claimed that major wars in the Middle East and possibly a third world war could occur if Kamala Harris wins the US presidential election. Trump has repeatedly accused Harris and President Joe Biden of steering the US towards a global conflict.
Speaking before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, Trump asserted that the Israel/Hamas war would conclude “quickly” if he were to return to the White House.
“If we don’t, you’re going to end up with major wars in the Middle East,” he said. “And maybe a third world war. You are closer to a third world war right now than at any time since the Second World War. We’ve never been so close because we have incompetent people running the country.”
Since the Ukraine conflict began in 2022, Trump has repeatedly made similar accusations against Biden and Harris. The former president has claimed that the conflict would never have started if he were in power and promised to bring Moscow and Kiev to the negotiating table “in 24 hours” if elected in November.
Netanyahu met with Trump at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a day after meeting both Biden and Harris in Washington. Speaking to reporters after her meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Harris said that she “expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians.”
Reports suggest that Harris’ comments angered Netanyahu, with an aide to the Israeli leader indicating that the vice president was less critical during the meeting.
Trump was a staunch ally of Netanyahu during his time in the White House, imposing sanctions on Iran at Netanyahu’s request, moving the US Embassy in Israel to West Jerusalem, and brokering the Abraham Accords, which saw Israel normalize relations with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan.
However, this relationship deteriorated after Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his electoral victory over Trump in 2020. “I haven’t spoken to [Netanyahu] since,” Trump told Israeli journalist Barak Ravid later that year. “F**k him.”
Before Trump and Netanyahu embraced on the steps of Mar-a-Lago on Friday, Trump told Fox News that Israel must end its war in Gaza “fast,” as “they are getting decimated with this publicity, and you know Israel is not very good at public relations.”
Earlier this week, the former president used his Truth Social platform to share a letter he received from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who wished Trump “strength and safety” after the attempt on his life earlier this month. “Thank you. Everything will be good,” Trump replied to Abbas. Some pundits saw Trump’s sharing of the letter as a move to gain leverage over Netanyahu.