US President Donald Trump stated that one of the main reasons for his Republican Party's loss of the majority in Congress is the "intense hatred of Israel" among Americans. This was said in an interview Trump gave to journalist Ross Douthat on US network "CBS News," which was published on Sunday evening. This marks Trump's first television interview since the midterm elections held on November 3.
Decline in Support
His Republican Party lost the majority in both chambers of Congress to the Democrats, signaling constraints on his agenda during his presidential term, which ends on January 20, 2029. In the interview, Trump considered the decline in support for Israel among Americans, the war on Iran, and rising fuel prices as the main reasons for the Republicans' loss. He said: "There is intense hatred of Israel. It seems there is a revulsion towards it."
He added: "This factor, along with the war itself, and fuel prices, I believe these are the main reasons." Since the start of the Israeli genocide war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, opinion polls in the United States have shown a significant decline in American support for Tel Aviv, alongside growing support for the rights of the Palestinian people.
War on Iran
With US support, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, resulting in more than 74,000 Palestinian deaths and over 175,000 injuries, mostly children and women, and destruction affecting 90 percent of infrastructure. In another matter, Trump considered that Israel would not have survived without his military intervention against Iran. On February 28 last year, the United States and Israel began a war on Iran, resulting in thousands of deaths, according to Tehran, which responded by attacking Israel and what it said were US military facilities in Arab countries, particularly Gulf states.
He said: "Without Donald Trump, Israel would not exist, because we entered with the magnificent B-2 bombers more than a year ago and struck those three sites," referring to what Washington and Tel Aviv claim are nuclear facilities. He claimed that Iran was two weeks away from possessing a nuclear weapon and that the US strikes completely destroyed the targeted facilities.
Costs of the War
Washington and Tel Aviv accuse Tehran of possessing nuclear and missile programs that threaten Israel and friendly regional states to the US, while Iran states that its nuclear program is peaceful and that it does not seek to produce nuclear weapons nor threaten other countries. Trump was asked if he regretted his decision to help Israel carry out strikes targeting Iranian leaders, specifically referring to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in this war. He answered that he was seeking "long-term results, not short-term gains."
He added: "We destroyed their nuclear arsenal; if I hadn't done that, Israel would not exist now." Qatar is making intensive efforts in mediation between Washington and Tehran, hoping to reach a final agreement that ends the state of war and its economic and political repercussions regionally and internationally.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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