Trump tells Israelis to ‘get their act together’
President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed displeasure with Israel’s reoccurring elections and told the Israelis to “get their act together.”
Donald Trum Photo: Kobi Richter
The Knesset voted last week to dissolve and hold another round of elections just weeks after it was sworn in and after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu won the elections in April.
Speaking to reporters before his departure for Europe, Trump said that “Israel is all messed up with their election. I mean, that came out of the blue three days ago. So that’s all messed up. They ought to get their act together.”
“Bibi got elected. Now, all of a sudden, they’re going to have to go through the process again? That’s ridiculous. So we’re not happy about that,” he said.
Trump’s comments come amid reports that the US will again be forced to postpone the unveiling of its “Deal of the Century” peace plan for the Middle East.
Trump also related to reports that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the peace plan may not “gain traction.”
“I think we have a good chance, but we’ll see what happens,” he said.
Last week Trump commented that “it’s too bad what happened in Israel. It looked like a total win for Netanyahu, who’s a great guy, he’s a great guy,” said the president. “And now they’re back… in the election stage. That is too bad. Because they don’t need this. I mean they’ve got enough turmoil over there, it’s a tough place.”
The unveiling of Trump’s peace plan has been previously postponed and may have to wait again until after the elections are held in September and the Jewish holidays in October. However, that creates a tight schedule for Trump, who will be launching his 2020 reelection campaign in November.
Netanyahu told a delegation of Trump advisors whom he met in Jerusalem last week that the political drama would not affect the role out of the peace plan.
“Even though we had a little event last night – that’s not going to stop us. We’re going to continue working together,” he said.
