JERUSALEM (JTA) — President Donald Trump said that Israeli politics are “messed up” and that the country should “get their act together.”
He also said that his administration is “not happy” about the turn of events.
Trump made the comments Sunday on the White House lawn before leaving for a visit to the United Kingdom.
“Israel is all messed up with their election. I mean, that came out of the blue three days ago. So that’s all messed up. They ought to get their act together,” he said.
“Bibi got elected. Now, all of a sudden, they’re going to have to go through the process again until September? That’s ridiculous. So we’re not happy about that,” he said, using Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname.
Trump added that the new elections could harm the chances of success for his administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, which will be rolled out in increments, starting with an economic “workshop” to encourage capital investment in the West Bank, Gaza and countries in the region. Finance ministers and global and regional business leaders will gather June 25-26 in Manama, Bahrain.
Trump told reporters of the peace plan, however, “I think we have a good chance, but we’ll see what happens.”
Hours after the fall of Israel’s government very early Thursday morning, Trump called Netanyahu “a great guy” and said of the new elections scheduled for Sept. 17, “That is too bad. Because they don’t need this. I mean they’ve got enough turmoil over there, it’s a tough place.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
