Trump told Benjamin Netanyahu in one call this month, “Do what you have to do,” according to six people familiar with the conversation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive and confidential information. Trump has said publicly that the two have spoken at least twice in October, with one call as recently as Oct. 19.

“He didn’t tell him what to do militarily, but he expressed that he was impressed by the pagers,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who was on a call this month with Trump and Netanyahu, referring to the Israeli operation that killed Hezbollah leaders with explosive batteries inside pagers. “He expressed his awe for their military operations and what they have done.”

Graham added: “He told them, do what you have to do to defend yourself, but we’re openly talking about a new Mideast. Trump understands that very much there has to be change with the corrupt Palestinian state.”

  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    Biden has made it clear that his support for Netanyahu is unconditional and his words about peace are empty. Harris has made it clear that her position regarding Gaza is identical to his.

        • ImADifferentBird@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          10 days ago

          We are literally in a thread where it’s reported that Trump plans to let Israel do whatever the fuck they want, and you still want to pretend that Harris is somehow the worse choice.

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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            10 days ago

            I didn’t say she was the worse choice. I voted for her already.

            She should still change her stance on Netanyahu’s genocide. So should the entire pro-genocide centrist wing of the Democratic Party.

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                10 days ago

                “Harris should change her stance regarding Netanyahu’s genocide” maps 1:1 with trump support, as far as a lot of lemmy is concerned.

                People are so invested in their support for genocide that they can’t imagine anyone opposing it in good faith.

            • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
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              10 days ago

              You’re preaching into an echo chamber. If these (totally not bots) people can’t read the writing under their noses, they won’t be swayed by you. They’ll wait until it’s moot and then half-assedly say they were duped, à la, as we saw with Baby Boomers and Reagan.

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                  10 days ago

                  Gotta keep the Progressive Boogeyman in the back pocket to wave around and scare the children

                  “They’re going to give you… healthcare and union labor protections! OOOooo spooky”

        • DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works
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          9 days ago

          A vote for Trump is a vote for genocide, guaranteed. You are insane if you support him over Harris and think that will do anything but makes things waaaaaaaaaay worse for not just Palestinians, but people in general. Telling people who opt for the lesser of two evils that they “love genocide” is full-on stupid.

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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            9 days ago

            You are insane if you support him over Harris

            And once again, I have already voted for Harris. She should stop supporting genocide even though it will make you sad.

            EDIT: centrists downvote voting for Harris because all they actually care about is supporting the genocide.

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        10 days ago

        Cool. Where does she differ from Biden on the issue of Netanyahu’s genocide?

        EDIT: Silly centrists, downvotes aren’t examples!

        • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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          10 days ago

          I didn’t realize the choice was Harris vs Biden.

          Oh yeah, I didn’t know that because it isn’t true. The choice is Harris vs the guy that says Netanyahu should finish the job, criticized him purely for letting his genocidal actions make it to the media, thinks Biden is being too tough on him, and has been in constant contact as a private citizen deliberately undermining peace negotiations.

          Harris losing means Bibi’s BFF wins. You’d have to be a pretty evil person with no sympathy for innocent Palestinians to want that to happen. Do you want that to happen?

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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            10 days ago

            My assertion was that Harris’ policy doesn’t differ from Biden’s.

            Silly centrist, arguing against things I didn’t say because you can’t defend your support for genocide.

            I voted for Harris. Keep arguing as though I haven’t just because I’m critical of the only policy centrists won’t abandon at the slightest pressure.

    • fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc
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      10 days ago

      I think the use of the term “unconditional” is fairly reductive. While any US government may continue military support regardless of Israel’s behavior, some governments will be more effective than others in restraining Netanyahu or nesuring Gazan’s receive appropriate support.

      I feel confident that neither Biden nor Harris are calling Netanyahu and saying “do what you have to do”.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        I think the use of the term “unconditional” is fairly reductive.

        We have imposed no conditions. Would you prefer “enthusiastic”? Because it’s that too.

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            10 days ago

            Already have, plenty of times.

            But that doesn’t mean I don’t get to gripe, and it doesn’t mean that griping about it makes me a trumper.

            It just looks like centrists just want people to fake happiness about being manipulated into voting for centrists’ genocide.

            • fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc
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              9 days ago

              Ok, that’s precisely why “unconditional” is reductive. It reduces a spectrum of possibilities to a binary “conditional” vs “unconditional” and produces a “both sides are the same” argument.

              it doesn’t mean that griping about it makes me a trumper.

              Except, it really does though? Complaining about Harris is precisely what the republicans, trumpers, and Netanyahu want you to be doing.

              You might not like Trump, but you absolutely are (apparently unwittingly) carrying a lot of water for him.

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                9 days ago

                You don’t give a shit who gets elected, as long as no one says anything bad about literal fucking genocide.

                When the election is over, what will your new excuse be for why no one can be upset about genocide?

                • fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc
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                  9 days ago

                  I’m at a loss as to how you could surmise that I don’t care about who gets elected? Everything I’ve been saying is about who gets elected.

                  You can get as upset as you like about genocide any time, now or later, but maybe in the interim you can help avoid some suffering by not helping Trump get elected.

                  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                    9 days ago

                    You can get as upset as you like about genocide any time, now or later, but maybe in the interim you can help avoid some suffering by not helping Trump get elected.

                    And you define “getting Trump elected” as “saying anything bad about genocide.”

                    What’s your excuse gonna be after the election?

      • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
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        10 days ago

        So true, gut feeling has always been a more reliable barometer of facts than logic and reasoning.

        Everyone raised around leaded gas knows that.