Israeli News Anchor Slams Trump Over His Syria Remark on Hezbollah

Channel 14 anchor Lital Shemesh reacted on Tuesday to President Donald Trump’s statement that Israel could leave Syria to deal with Hezbollah. In an Instagram story, she rejected the idea sharply, asking, "Which Syria exactly?" and saying the previous regime "slaughtered hundreds of thousands of our people." She added that Syria’s current rulers "emerged from jihadist groups with roots in al-Qaeda." She concluded that trusting Syria rather than Israel against the terror group showed that "the world has truly turned upside down."

Her comments came after Trump spoke at the G7 summit, where he said, "If Israel cannot do the job without killing everyone, Syria should do the job against Hezbollah." Asked whether the Iran deal would survive if the IDF attacked in Lebanon, Trump said, "Bibi needs to be more responsible. I see this as the little war, Iran was the big story."

Trump also tried to sound tougher toward Tehran after officials in his administration acknowledged that the agreement with Iran is less strict than the deal signed under Barack Obama. He said Iran would not get nuclear weapons and warned, "If they do, all hell will break loose on them."

At the same time, Trump struck a somewhat conciliatory tone toward Iran’s rulers. He said regime change in Iran had never been his goal, though "if it happens, it happens," and said the Iranians are "acting rationally now."