Former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Sunday to blast Vice President Kamala Harris, blaming her for the hostage crisis in Israel following the murder of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin by Hamas.
In a scathing post, Trump wrote that the crisis was a direct result of Harris’s weakness and ineffectiveness, and that he looked forward to debating her. Trump also took aim at President Joe Biden, accusing him of spending his time plotting against him instead of addressing the crisis.
Notably, Trump’s criticism of Harris was focused on the broader crisis, rather than specifically blaming her for the hostages’ deaths. Harris, like Biden, had advised against Israel entering Rafah, the Gaza town where the hostages were found dead in a Hamas tunnel.
Biden, currently on vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, released a statement saying he had worked “tirelessly” for Hersh’s release and would continue to work “around the clock” for a hostage deal.
Critics online speculated that Israel might have been able to rescue the hostages if they had entered Rafah sooner. Autopsy reports revealed that the hostages had been alive until recently and were shot in the head within the previous 48 hours, likely to prevent Israeli soldiers from rescuing them.
Trump has long maintained that the October 7 attack and the war that followed would not have happened if he were still president. During his term from 2017 to 2021, there were no wars between Israel and its neighbors, and he negotiated the Abraham Accords peace agreement between Israel and several Arab states.
As Trump’s post sparked a flurry of reactions online, it became clear that the debate over the hostage crisis and the US response was far from over.
