President Donald Trump on Sunday night rejected claims that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza during the war that began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre of some 1,200 people in the northwestern Negev.
“Look, they’re in a war there. Some horrible things happened on Oct. 7. As you know, it was a horrible, horrible thing; one of the worst I’ve ever seen,” the president said when asked by a reporter in Allentown, Pennsylvania if there is evidence for the genocide accusations.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad things since I’m president, in terms of wars and potential wars,” Trump continued.
He then referred to the recent violence between Thailand and Cambodia, saying, “They had thousands of people being dead already at the border. But Oct. 7 with Hamas was really, really bad.”
The president said he wants the Gazans fed. “We’re the only country that’s really doing that. We’re putting up money to get the people fed. And [Mideast envoy] Steve Witkoff is doing a great job, and we want Israel to get them fed. We’re giving some pretty big contributions, basically to purchase food,” said Trump.
“We don’t want people going hungry; we don’t want people to starve,” he added.
In an interview with Mark Levin on Fox News’ “Life, Liberty & Levin” on Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee firmly rejected allegations that Israel is committing genocide or deliberately starving Gazans.
“If Israel is committing genocide, they are really bad at it. They’re terrible at doing genocide,” he declared.
Huckabee stressed that international criticism is misplaced, saying that humanitarian suffering in Gaza is caused by the Hamas terrorist group’s ongoing actions, not Israeli policy.
“There is one reason they are suffering in Gaza … it’s because of Hamas,” said Huckabee. “They are a terror organization, and they’ve acted like it,” he added.
He and Levin accused the media — particularly outlets such as The New York Times — of spreading misleading imagery and stories that ignore Hamas’ responsibility for the crisis, including its hoarding of aid and violence against the civilian population.
Republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate.