Those among us who have been yearning for a Donald Trump victory last November and counting the days until his January 20 inauguration in the hope that he would pour the mighty ire of the United States military on Israel’s enemies across the Middle East may need to downgrade their expectations.
At least based on the video that’s been making the rounds since New Year’s Eve where the President-elect was asked about Hamas and the Israeli hostages and, well, didn’t pour the ire.
It was a New Year’s Eve gala at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and Trump was asked by a CNN reporter if he had recently spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding a potential ceasefire and hostage deal.
“We’ll see what happens,” Trump responded.
And when the reporter pressed a little more, Trump said, “They’d better let the hostages come back soon.”
Following which he walked away.
He didn’t say, “They’d better let the hostages come back soon or face the wrath of the greatest friend of Israel in the world, the United States of America,” which would have been nice.
He didn’t even say, “They’d better let the hostages come back soon or they’ll be sorry.”
And not even an open-ended threat, “They’d better let the hostages come back soon or else…”
The CNN reporter was right, he should have talked to Bibi.
