Former President George W. Bush, who led America following the al Qaeda terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made his first public comments Tuesday on the fatal Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel and the subsequent war.
His comments didn’t emerge until Friday, however, in a video obtained by Axios.
BLINKEN PROMISES US WILL BACK ISRAEL AS NETANYAHU VOWS TO DESTROY HAMAS
“My thoughts were that we need to support Israel. No ands, ifs, or buts,” the former president, 77, told presidential historian Mark Updegrove, president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation, during a private California event.
“It’s gonna be awfully difficult on the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu], but he’s got to do it,” Bush said. “He’s got to do this. You’re dealing with cold-blooded killers.”
“We’ll find out what he’s made out of,” he said of Netanyahu.
Bush is credited for his unifying response following 9/11, bringing people together in mourning and promising to find the responsible parties. However, he is also criticized for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction. No WMDs were found, though. Public support for the war has fallen as the years have gone on, and sharp critiques of Bush amid a rising isolationist sentiment throughout the country have gone up.
“This was an unprovoked attack by terrorists,” Bush said of the Hamas attack. “People willing to kill innocent people to achieve an objective.”
“Don’t be surprised if Israel takes whatever action is necessary to defend herself,” he said. “And it’s gonna be ugly for a while. But it’s tough. It’s tough. And I hope and [I’m] pretty confident the United States will stand squarely with Israel.”
Bush said he doesn’t receive intelligence anymore, so he couldn’t say whether Iran was involved in the attack or not. However, he said it wouldn’t be surprising, given the country’s continued support of terrorist organizations and hostility toward Israel.
“I never thought we should try to accommodate Iran in any way, shape, or form,” he explained. “I always felt the objective ought to be to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon to prevent a cataclysmic event in the Middle East. And these are the kinds of people that, if you show softness, they will take advantage of it.”
Bush praised President Joe Biden‘s administration for starting “off on the right foot” with a “pretty bold statement” in support of Israel.
“You’ve got to take some heat, you know, both parties have got isolationist tendencies,” he said.
He explained that critics say, “We shouldn’t get involved,” or “Who cares?”
“Well, we should,” Bush said. “We should care.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The former president added that calls for negotiation are out of bounds.
“Negotiating with killers is not an option for the elected government of Israel,” he said. “My view is one side is guilty, and it’s not Israel.”
