Donald Trump has blamed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for a Saturday airstrike on Israel.
The rocket attack took place at a soccer field in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights that Israeli military officials and emergency services say killed 12 people including children.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) blamed the attack, which comes amid worsening violence on the Israel-Lebanon border, on Hezbollah, but the group has denied any involvement.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, the former president and Republican nominee for the November election blamed the events on “a weak and ineffective United States president and vice president” and claimed it would not have happened if he were president.
“Today’s attack on Israel cannot be forgotten. It will go down as another moment in history created by a weak and ineffective United States president and vice president. With time, this situation will only get worse for our country. It must galvanize the Republican Party, Democrats, independents, conservatives, progressives, libertarians, and everybody else to put STRENGTH, RESPECT, AND POWER back into the U.S.A.,” Trump wrote.
“This attack, just like the attack of October 7th, or the Ukraine/Russia War, would have never happened if I were president! It is a dangerous and terrible time for the world, and it is almost the entire fault of the incompetent Biden-Harris administration. It must be changed, and quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Following the attack, Israel’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen warned that “Lebanon should burn” in a social media post.
“We must take significant action in the north, which will exact a heavy price from Lebanon and Hezbollah,” he added. “What cruel terrorist organization shoots at playing children?”
“Sending condolences to the families of those murdered from Majdal Shams, our Druse brothers, who lost their loved ones today.”
In a statement shared with Newsweek, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari called it “the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since October 7th,” when a Hamas-led attack on Israel killed around 1,200 people, the majority of them civilians, according to officials.
Following what the IDF called a “situational assessment and the intelligence in our possession,” the Israeli military said that “the rocket launch toward Majdal Shams was carried out by the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
“The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon categorically denies allegations made by some ‘Israeli’ media outlets and various media platforms about its involvement in targeting Majdal Shams,” a Hezbollah spokesperson said in a statement.
“The Islamic Resistance has absolutely nothing to do with the incident and denies all false allegations in this regard.”
Tensions have risen between Israel and Hezbollah since the outbreak of the Gaza war following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas. In response, Israel launched a major assault on the Palestinian territory which has left more than 39,000 people dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, as cited by The Associated Press.
By Kate Plummer | Newsweek
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