
Benjamin Netanyahu is war hero and so am I
Despite the Israeli prime minister's detractors wanting him jailed as a war criminal following a November 2024 arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict issued by the International Criminal Court, Mr Trump insisted: 'He's a war hero.'
Mr Trump, who also claims to have ended seven wars, then extended the accolade to himself, saying: 'He's a war hero, cause we worked together. He's a war hero. I guess I am too.'
He continued: 'Nobody cares. I am too. I sent those planes,' a reference to his order for June airstrikes against three critical enrichment facilities in Iran.
Throughout the interview, Mr Trump complained he had not received sufficient credit for ordering those airstrikes or other recent actions he has taken aimed at easing global conflict.
For his part, Mr Netanyahu has previously called Mr Trump 'the greatest friend Israel has ever had', and in July presented him with a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr Trump's most infamous comments about war heroes in the past included denying that the late senator John McCain was a war hero because he had been captured and held as a prisoner of war.
Mr Trump avoided serving in Vietnam with four college deferrals.
In 2018, Mr Trump reportedly snubbed a commemoration for the 100th anniversary of WWI at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, fearing his hair would become dishevelled in the rain, The Atlantic reported in 2020.
'Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers,' Mr Trump reportedly told staffers. The then-president also called the more than 1,800 Marines buried there 'suckers' elsewhere during his 2018 trip in France, per The Atlantic.
John Kelly, a former Marine Corps general and the White House chief of staff at the time, attended in Mr Trump's place.
Mr Kelly, whose son was killed in action serving in Afghanistan in 2010, later told CNN that Mr Trump had indeed made the derogatory remarks.
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