Trump Says Israel ‘Will Not Exist Within Two Years’ if Harris Elected President During Heated Debate

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump insisted on Tuesday night that his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris would prove catastrophic for Israel if she were to win the White House in November.

Trump argued during his first presidential debate with Harris, the current US vice president, that she “hates” Israel and that her election would lead to the Jewish state’s swift demise. He also took a jab at Harris for allegedly snubbing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by not attending his address to a joint session of the US Congress in July. 

“If she’s president, I believe Israel will not exist within two years from now. She hates Israel,” asserted Trump, who served as US president from 2017-2021.

Trump went on to claim that Harris also “hates” people of Arabic descent and that her foreign policy approach would result in a destructive regional war in the Middle East. 

“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. 

The Republican nominee also took a swipe at the Biden administration’s approach to Iran, arguing that its policies have resulted in empowering and enriching the Islamist regime in Tehran.

“Iran was broke under Donald Trump,” Trump said. “Now, Iran has three-hundred billion dollars, because they took off all the sanctions that I had. Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different spheres of terror.”

Trump was referring to his decision as president to withdraw from the controversial 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimpose harsh economic sanctions on the regime. The Biden administration sought unsuccessfully to renegotiate the nuclear accord and has offered certain sanctions waivers, which according to critics benefit Tehran and allow it to spend more money on supporting terrorism.

US intelligence agencies have long labeled Iran as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism. Supporters of Trump’s policies toward Iran argued in part that they gave the regime less resources to give to its terrorist proxies across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Critics countered that the nuclear deal was a better path to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and that Washington should work to prevent escalation with Tehran.

“They had no money for terror. They were broke. Now, they’re a rich nation. And now, what they’re doing,” Trump continued. 

The former president urged the audience to “look at what’s happening to the Houthis and Yemen. Look at what’s going on in the Middle East.”

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia, a US-designated terrorist organization, began disrupting global trade with its attacks on shipping in the busy Red Sea corridor after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, arguing its aggression was a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza. The Iran-backed movement has also said it will target all ships heading to Israeli ports, even if they do not pass through the Red Sea, and claimed responsibility for attempted drone and missile strikes targeting Israel.

Harris on Tuesday night emphatically denied Trump’s assertion that she harbors animosity toward the Jewish state. She argued that the former president was attempting to distract from his own “weak” foreign policy record. 

Harris echoed her previous comments on the ongoing war in Gaza, insisting that “Israel has a right to defend itself” and that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”

She added that the war in Gaza must “end immediately” and repeated calls for Israel to strike a ceasefire and hostage deal with the Hamas terrorist group. The Democratic nominee also underscored the need for a “two-state solution” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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