Trump said the Hamas-Israel conflict was a result of the rigged election

Donald Trump is using the conflict unfolding between Hamas and Israel to push his own political agenda in yet another cynical display of the overt and unhinged narcissism that has made him so beloved among some Americans. 

On October 11th, the former president told a group of his supporters at an event in West Palm Beach that the renewed fight between Hamas and Israel could be attributed to the rigged 2020 election, which is a laughable concept. 

“If the election wasn’t rigged, Trump stated, “there would be nobody even thinking about going into Israel.” It seems the former president’s version of what happened in 2022 can be tied to just about any issue in the world of politics. 

However, when looking at the world through the eyes of the former president it's easy to see how he would be able to conflate his re-election loss to a geopolitical issue that has confounded every world leader for nearly a century. 

There is no way to know if Trump’s presence in the White House would have been able to prevent Hamas from launching its surprise attack against Israel but we can analyze a few of the reasons that likely prompted the assault. 

Al Jazeera's Joe Macaron noted in a recent report that there were three key factors that triggered that attack from Hamas: first, Israeli settlement policies in the West Bank gave Hamas both a motive and opportunity for its attack. 

There was likely little the former president could do about Israeli settler policy, especially since it was Trump’s administration that reversed a decades-old policy and declared the settlements weren’t a violation of international law.  

“We’ve recognized the reality on the ground,” Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at the time, according to the New York Times. Unfortunately, another policy from Trump may have helped compel the assault. 

The normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia was another one of the key factors that may have led Hamas to attack Israel and this was a direct development of negotiations that happened under Trump’s watch. 

The Arab Center of Washington noted in 2017 that Trump was “uniquely suited to make peace in the Middle East” and his administration did go on to help several Arab nations normalize relations with Israel before he was voted out of office. 

It's possible the process of normalizing relations between Israel and other nations of the Middle East would have continued under Trump, which brings the matter to the final key reason why Hamas may have attacked Israel. 

Joe Macaron explained that Hamas was emboldened after the terrorist organization was able to repair its relationship with Iran. It’s difficult to know if Trump could have impacted this development but it is probably unlikely. 

Even if Trump were in office today it is unlikely he could have prevented the tragedy that unfolded on October 7th, and it may be best he isn’t in charge since his other comments about the assault have drawn criticism. 

Prior to the former president’s comments during his speech in West Palm Beach, Trump was interviewed by Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade where he took the time to criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

“He has been hurt very badly because of what’s happened here,” Trump said, according to Politico. “He was not prepared. He was not prepared, and Israel was not prepared,” Trump added, which generated a bi-partisan backlash. 

“He’s a fool. Only a fool would make those kinds of comments,” explained former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. “Only a fool would give comments that could give aid and comfort to Israel’s adversary in this situation.”

Trump issued a statement the following day in support of Israel in a sad attempt to help the situation he had created: “There was no better friend or ally of Israel than President Donald J. Trump,” the statement explained. 

“Under my leadership, the United States stood in complete solidarity with Israel, and as a result, Israel was safe, America was safe, and for the first time in decades, we made historic strides for Peace in the Middle East,” the statement added.