Israel and the White House condemned remarks made by former US President Donald Trump, who praised the “intelligence” of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah group and criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential race, called Hezbollah, Israel’s sworn enemy, “very smart” and accused Netanyahu of being “unprepared” for the Hamas onslaught.

Israel’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said tonight that Trump’s comments to his supporters and in a television interview Wednesday night show he is not a man to be trusted. “It’s a shame that such a man, a former US president, is spreading propaganda and things that hurt the morale of Israel’s fighters and its citizens,” Karhi told Channel 13 television.

A White House spokesman, Andrew Bates, called Trump’s comments “dangerous and crazy.” “We do not understand at all why any American would praise a terrorist organization, supported by Iran, calling it smartBates said.

Many of the Republican nominees also criticized Trump. “It is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for the (US) presidency, would choose this moment to attack our friend and ally, Israel, and praise Hezbollah terrorists as very smartFlorida Governor Ron DeSandis wrote on Platform X.

Former Vice President and current Trump opponent Mike Pence said in a speech in New Hampshire: “Now is not the time for any former president or any other American to send any message other than that America stands with Israel».

Isaiah Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas and also a candidate for the Republican nomination, wrote on Platform X that Trump “is crazy if he thinks that any candidate for president of the United States should praise the terrorists who attacked one of the most important allies us”.

Trump had a close relationship with Netanyahu during his presidency.

But he was disturbed when the Israeli politician called Biden to congratulate him on his victory in the 2020 presidential election.

Speaking to supporters in Florida on Wednesday, he said he was “revealing for the first time” that Israel had decided at the last minute not to take part in the execution of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a drone in Iraq on January 3, 2020, after Trump’s order. According to the former president, Israel just last night told Washington that it would not participate in this operation, and Israeli officials did not explain the reasons why they made this decision.

“I will never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. This was very bad“, he said, calling the Israeli prime minister by his diminutive.