Trump Doubles Down on Criticism of Israel’s Handling of War, Saying it ‘Is Absolutely Losing the PR War’

President Trump is again criticizing Israel for releasing videos of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, saying “Israel is absolutely losing the PR war.”In an interview with the former director of the Office of Personnel Management, Hugh Hewitt, Mr. Trump doubled down on comments he made recently in an interview with the newspaper Israel Hayom.When asked what advice he would give to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Trump said “You’ve got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy.”“And I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it, because you’ve got to have victory. You have to have a victory, and it’s taking a long time,” Mr. Trump said. “And the other thing is I hate, they put out tapes all the time.”Mr. Trump added “Every night, they’re releasing tapes of a building falling down. They shouldn’t be releasing tapes like that. They’re doing, that’s why they’re losing the PR war.”Mr. Trump’s remarks to Mr. Hewitt come shortly after a high-profile interview with Israel Hayom in which Mr. Trump said that “I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it,” referring to their releasing of images from Gaza.“These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza. And I said, Oh, that’s a terrible portrait. It’s a very bad picture for the world,” Mr. Trump told Israel Hayom. “The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people.”Mr. Trump’s criticism of Israel focused on the public image the nation is cultivating through the war. When challenged by interviewers at Israel Hayom, Mr. Trump said “Go and do what you have to do. But you don’t do that.”“I think that’s one of the reasons that there has been a lot of kickback. If people didn’t see that, every single night I’d watch and every single one of those,” Mr. Trump said. “And I think Israel wanted to show that it’s tough, but sometimes you shouldn’t be doing that.”When asked by Mr. Hewit “are you still 100 percent with Israel?” Mr. Trump responded “Right.”

Trump Doubles Down on Criticism of Israel’s Handling of War, Saying it ‘Is Absolutely Losing the PR War’

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