US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has accused his Democratic rival Kamala Harris of “hating” Israel and said if she became president, the Jewish state would not exist “within two years from now”.
Trump’s comments came during a bitter televised debate with Harris on Tuesday in Pennsylvania.
He asserted that the Israel-Hamas war would have never started if he had been president.
“She wouldn’t even meet with Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a very important speech. She refused to be there because she was at a sorority party of hers… She hates Israel,” Trump, 78, said.
“If she is president I believe Israel will not exist within two years from now,” he claimed. “I’ve been pretty good at predictions, but I hope I’m wrong on that one,” the former president said.
“At the same time, in her own way, she hates the Arab population, because the whole place is going to get blown up: Arabs, Jewish people, Israel. Israel will be gone,” Trump said during the debate hosted by ABC.
This was the first debate between Trump, 78, and Harris, 59, ahead of the November 5 presidential election.
He said Iran under him was broke and had no money for Hamas, Hezbollah or any other terror group.
“Look at what’s happening with the Houthis in Yemen. Look at what’s going on in the Middle East. This would have never happened. I will get that settled and fast.”
Asked to respond to Trump’s claim that she hates Israel, Harris said, “That’s absolutely not true,” describing herself as a lifelong supporter of the Jewish state.