Israel had ‘total control’ over Congress – Trump

West Jerusalem used to have the “strongest lobby,” but its power has dwindled, the US president has said

Israel previously had “total control” over the US Congress, and it was impossible for someone speaking “badly” of the Jewish state to be in politics, US President Donald Trump has said.

Trump said that in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller published on Monday, repeatedly stating that Israel used to have the “strongest lobby I’ve ever seen” in the US.

“If you go back 20 years. I mean, I will tell you, Israel had the strongest lobby in Congress of anything or body, or of any company or corporation or state that I’ve ever seen. Israel was the strongest. Today, it doesn’t have that strong a lobby. It’s amazing,” Trump explained.

There was a time where you couldn’t speak bad, if you wanted to be a politician, you couldn’t speak badly [of Israel].

Times have changed, and US politics now has all sorts of critics of Israel, namely “AOC plus three” and “all these lunatics,” Trump added. The US president referred to the so-called ‘Squad’, an informal progressive left-wing faction of the Democratic Caucus in the US House, originally composed of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib, known for their strong anti-Israel stance.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, prompted by a surprise assault on southern Israel mounted by the Palestinian group on October 7, 2023, has further eroded West Jerusalem’s influence in the US, Trump suggested. 

“They may be winning the war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations, you know, and it is hurting them,” he said. 

At the same time, Trump praised himself for what he had done for Israel, claiming that “nobody has done more” for the country. The US president said Israel was “amazing” since he has been enjoying “good support” from them in return as well.

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