Israel-Gaza conflict proves treacherous ground for US politicians

In the days immediately after the Hamas attack on Israel, the Republicans seeking the US presidency had focused their criticism on President Joe Biden and what they saw as American weakness and missteps that had paved the way for violence.

That changed on Wednesday night, however, when Donald Trump addressed the topic in a speech near his home in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Now some of Mr Trump's rivals are condemning the former president in some of the most direct language of this campaign.

During remarks to a crowd of supporters, Mr Trump said Israel had to "straighten it out because they're fighting, potentially a very big force".

He called Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant a "jerk" and repeatedly called Hezbollah, the militant Islamist group in Lebanon, "very smart".

Mr Trump also said that Israel had initially agreed to work with the US on a 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, but that they backed out at the last minute.

"I'll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down," he said. "That was a very terrible thing."

In a television interview that aired Thursday, he went further in his criticism of the Israeli prime minister, saying Mr Netanyahu was "not very prepared" for the possibility of a Hamas attack.

Mr Trump's remarks prompted a series of quick and pointed responses from Ron DeSantis, the candidate who once was in a dead heat with the former president but now trails him in most polls by a wide margin.

"Terrorists have murdered at least 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans and are holding more hostage," the Florida governor wrote in a social media post, "so it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for president, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, much less praise Hezbollah terrorists."

A DeSantis campaign spokesperson would later call Mr Trump's remarks "disturbing and disqualifying".

Mr Trump's former vice-president, Mike Pence, noted a pattern in his old boss's foreign policy statements.

"Hezbollah aren't smart, they're evil," he said in a radio interview on Thursday.

"But the former president also said when Russia invaded Ukraine in a similar, unprovoked, unconscionable invasion a year-and-a-half ago, he said Vladimir Putin was a genius."

The former president's campaign team on Thursday attempted to explain Mr Trump's comments in a social media post on Thursday, writing, "smart does not equal good" - an effort the DeSantis campaign called "rhetorical gymnastics".

Mr Trump's comments also prompted a response from Israeli communications minister Shlomo Karhi, who called it "shameful".

"A former US president abets propaganda and disseminates things that wound the spirit of Israel's fighters and its citizens," he said on Israeli television.

"We don't have to bother with him and the nonsense he spouts."

During his presidency, Mr Trump was a vocal and aggressive supporter of Israel and its right-wing Likud government.

In 2018, he relocated the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a move that past US leaders had been reluctant to make because of diplomatic blowback.

It won him an outpouring of support from many Israelis.

But he has harboured a grudge against Mr Netanyahu since the 2020 US presidential election, when the Israeli prime minister called to congratulate Mr Biden on his victory while Mr Trump was still contesting the voting results.

It's yet another indication that for Mr Trump, his foreign policy views and statements can be determined as much by personal issues as political ones.

Democrats are facing their own divisions on the topic, as sympathies towards the Palestinian situation that have grown more pronounced in recent years clash with an outpouring of support and anger over the Hamas attacks.

Within the left-wing progressive movement, cracks have been forming.

Two liberal House Democrats in Michigan, Rashida Tlaib and Shri Thanedar, clashed over the latter's criticism of members of Congress who call Hamas "resistance" or "militants".

Ms Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, said Mr Thanedar was more interested in generating social media attention than helping his constituents.

Earlier this week, some House Democrats exchanged heated words behind closed doors over the Israel attacks, reportedly after Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey said that anyone in Congress who hasn't condemned the attack should feel guilty.

Mr Trump isn't the only Republican presidential hopeful who has discovered that the Hamas attack on Israel can be somewhat treacherous political ground, either.

Mr DeSantis himself was put on the defensive while campaigning in New Hampshire on Thursday, as a voter wondered why the Florida governor was not also expressing sympathy for Palestinian civilians who have been killed by Israeli bombing campaigns.

"They are not decapitating babies' heads," Mr DeSantis said, in reference to unconfirmed reports of specific Hamas atrocities on Saturday. "They are not intentionally doing that."

The man, who said he had voted for Mr Trump in the past, told Mr DeSantis he had lost his support.

Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy - the tech entrepreneur and political novice who is currently close to Mr DeSantis in recent Republican polls - instigated his own round of criticism when he said that the many Republicans expressing support for Israel after the Hamas attack were engaging in "selective moral outrage" based on campaign contributions and deep-pocketed donors.

"It is shameful," he said. "And I think that there are, frankly, financial and corrupting influences that lead them exactly to speak the way they do, that's just the hard truth."

That prompted a back-and-forth on social media with Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas, who called Mr Ramaswamy a "Hamas apologist" and a "clown".

The Republican race has been remarkably stable over recent months, as Mr Trump has built and maintained a sizable lead over his opponents through a variety of legal and political drama.

The conflict in Israel, however, has created a new turbulence in US and global politics that could continue to cause headaches for Democrats - and, possibly, give Mr Trump's rivals an opening to exploit.