Trump and MAGA turn on Israel over scale of bombing and settler attacks

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times, usually from his own lips: “Donald Trump is the best friend Israel has ever had”.

Last year, conservative American Jews wagered millions on that proposition. But recent events have thrown a monkey wrench into the fabled bromance between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump was “caught off guard” both by Israel’s recent strikes in Syria and the attack that hit Gaza’s only Catholic church, killing three civilians. And, as reported by Axios, ”the chatter in the West Wing grew louder: Benjamin Netanyahu is out of control”. One White House official, sounding more like Senator Bernie Sanders than an Israel-can-do-no-wrong Evangelical, said "Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time".

A second official told Axios, regarding the church shelling "the feeling is that every day there is something new. What the f***?"

"The bombing in Syria caught the president and the White House by surprise," another official explained. "The president doesn't like turning on the television and seeing bombs dropped in a country he is seeking peace in." Yet another official described Netanyahu as “like a child who just won't behave".

America’s millions of evangelical Christians have long been counted among Israel’s biggest supporters as well as Trump’s most reliable voters. They are particularly distressed by the damage to the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic church in the West Bank, as well as by a fire allegedly set by settlers next to the ruins of the fifth-century Church of St George.