#Tim Scott criticized Trump’s comments about Netanyahu: ‘terrible and not helpful’ 

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott (R) criticized the recent comments made by former President Trump about Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

The Republican senator and 2024 presidential candidate described Trump’s comments as “terrible and not helpful” during his Monday conversation hosted by Georgetown’s Institute of Politics and Public Service and The Associated Press. 

“We should be loyal to our allies while being lethal to our adversaries. Anything less than that jeopardizes life,” he said.

During Wednesday’s speech, Trump accused Netanyahu of “letting us down” in 2020 just before the U.S. military assassinated a top Iranian general. He also suggested that Netanyahu’s discussions with the Biden administration assisted Hezbollah, a designated terror organization. 

Scott then praised Netanyahu for showing “passion” and “humanity” after Hamas’s deadly attack on October 7. 

Israel responded the same day with heavy airstrikes, officially stating that Israel is waging war against Hamas. So far over 4,000 people have died. 

“One of the first things that Israel’s done is they waited,” Scott said. “Now how Prime Minister Netanyahu had the kind of restraint to refrain from immediate action, it just talks about the morality and the humanity that we see coming from Netanyahu into Gaza.” 

The Senate Banking Committee ranking member found some common ground with his presidential campaign rival, Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, on the topic of Palestinian refugees. 

Scott said due to the President not being able to determine “who is safe to bring in, who’s not safe to bring in,” it is the right decision not to accept Palestinian refugees if they flee Gaza. 

This sentiment is similar to the rhetoric that DeSantis has been touting. In his view, the Palestinian refugees should not be taken in if they manage to leave Gaza because they are all “antisemitic.” 

When posed with a question from a Georgetown student on what he would do with BRICS, the GOP senator said that, as president, he would work to “break” the coalition. 

“Those economic partnerships are something that I would work to break, to be honest with you,” Scott said. “One of the goals that appears that they have is to pull the world away from having the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency.” 

BRICS is a grouping of the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa that gather to address the economic challenges of the Global South. 

“I would love to have an economic brand that would attract more resources in the partnership with us and away from the BRICS,” Scott said.