Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey who is challenging Donald J. Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, said Mr. Trump’s rhetoric of intolerance — as evident today as it was during his presidency — had fueled the surge of bigotry confronting Jews and Muslims after Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the fierce Israeli response in Gaza.
And Mr. Trump’s lopsided adherence to the wishes of Israel’s right-wing government, while widely praised in Republican circles, secured only the “low-hanging fruit” of Middle Eastern diplomacy during his presidency, Mr. Christie said, denigrating one of Mr. Trump’s chief foreign policy accomplishments.
He argued that Mr. Trump’s lack of “intellectual curiosity” and foreign policy ambition had led his administration to give up the pursuit of a more elusive peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Mr. Christie delivered a scathing assessment of Mr. Trump’s Middle East policy in an interview as he traveled to Israel on Sunday for what proved an emotional one-day visit in which he toured a kibbutz, Kfar Azza, near Gaza, where 58 residents were butchered by Hamas terrorists last month.
Mr. Christie watched raw footage of the attacks at a military base near Tel Aviv, commiserated with survivors and families in a hospital and conferred with Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, in Jerusalem.
Persons:
Chris Christie, Donald J, Trump, —, Israel’s, Christie, Trump’s, Isaac Herzog
Organizations:
Republican
Locations:
New Jersey, Israel, Gaza, Trump’s, Kfar Azza, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem