FALCON POWERS – Former US President Donald Trump condemned the student protests against the Israeli war on Gaza taking place in American universities, stating that the infamous far-right rally in Charlottesville in 2017 “means nothing” compared to the “level of hatred” present in the ongoing events.
The Republican candidate for the White House race said, “Charlottesville means nothing at all, nothing compared to the level of hatred we have here. It is tremendous hatred.”
Trump was referring to the famous gathering of far-right activists in Virginia in 2017, which began with a march by neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan.
The following day, clashes broke out between these white supremacist supporters and anti-racist protesters. One sympathizer with the neo-Nazis drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, resulting in the death of a young woman and the injury of 19 others.
Tensions continue to escalate in American universities, which are witnessing increasing demonstrations against the war in Gaza. Hundreds of people have been arrested while riot police confront angry students.
At that time, Trump condemned the violence “on both sides,” leading to accusations that he sympathized with the far-right. On the other hand, a recent opinion poll revealed that 53% of Americans have little or no confidence in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ability to handle foreign affairs correctly, including 25% who have no confidence in him at all.
According to the survey conducted by the US-based Pew Research Center, whose results were reported by American and Israeli media outlets, 21% of Americans said they have “some confidence” in Netanyahu, while 9% said they have a great deal of confidence.
In contrast, 15% of the survey participants said they had “never heard of him.”
The percentage of Americans who do not trust the Israeli Prime Minister has increased by 11 percentage points compared to 2023, including an 8-point increase in the percentage of those who have no confidence in him at all. In 2023, 26% of Americans said they had never heard of Netanyahu in a similar survey.
It is worth noting that 51% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents had more positive views of Netanyahu compared to Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (13%).
According to the poll, older Americans were much more likely to hold positive views of Netanyahu than younger people.
The Pew Research Center conducted its survey on a sample of 3,600 Americans from April 1 to April 7 of this year.
