NASHUA, N.H. — Recent comments by Donald J. Trump on the conflict unfolding in Israel have provided a rare moment in the Republican presidential contest: A number of his rivals, usually circumspect in their criticism of the former president, are now finding common ground in criticizing him for slamming Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and calling the militant group Hezbollah “very smart.”
Trump’s comments, made in a speech Wednesday, reverberated in speeches and interviews during the first day of a cattle call-style event in a Nashua hotel that attracted local activists, long-shot candidates, and panels of Republicans from around the country opining on Republican red meat issues.
Though unwavering support for Israel has for some time been an important credential for any Republican candidate, the Israel-Hamas conflict has moved the issue in recent days to the fore of the presidential contest.
In a rare move, Trump implicitly acknowledged the misstep by attempting on his Truth Social network Friday to walk back his initial comments. That didn’t stop his opponents from taking aim at the former president.
“We have the Donald Trump on the teleprompter . . . then you have the Donald Trump when he gets off that teleprompter,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a campaign stop at Saint Anselm College on Friday ahead of the Nashua event, discussing Trump’s Israel comments. “And that’s the real Donald Trump when he started speaking about those things. . . . It’s not about the greater good of what Israel is trying to do or American security.”
At the state party’s two-day First in the Nation Leadership Summit, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie blamed those in the Republican Party, singling Trump out by name, who “equivocate about Israel” and criticize Netanyahu.
“If we don’t stand with Israel, Israel will not exist,” said Christie, one of the only Republican presidential candidates to regularly disparage Trump. “And that will cause tumult in this world that we don’t even want to begin to think about.”
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley — who has overtaken DeSantis for the No. 2 position in New Hampshire — expressed a similar sentiment Friday during an interview on Fox News.
“We have to have a new conservative leader going forward with our country. You can’t be congratulating Hezbollah,” she said, responding to Trump’s comments about Netanyahu. “You can’t go and criticize a country that’s just seen the worst devastation since the Holocaust.”
In Nashua, she didn’t mince words: ”They were saying ‘Death to Israel. Death to America.’ That is why Israel needs to eliminate Hamas, once and for all.”
Trump, who has also skipped out on the GOP primary debates, was not scheduled to appear in Nashua. The former president has often portrayed himself as Israel’s staunchest ally, and said Sunday he would “stand strongly” with Israel, claiming that the attacks “would never have happened” if he were president.
It’s not just his rivals for the presidential nomination focusing on Trump’s comments about Hamas and Israel. The remarks didn’t land well with Elisabeth Schumer-Veneman, a New Hampshire voter from the Seacoast, who attended the summit Friday wearing the Jewish Scottish tartan, a necklace with the Jerusalem skyline, and a Star of David brooch.
“The sentiment was not appreciated,” said Schumer-Veneman, 43, who said she’s supporting DeSantis.
The topic was also top of mind for Ethan Dupuis, a 19-year-old Plymouth State University student who has been impressed with Haley’s rhetoric around Israel.
Dupuis, who also serves as president of his school’s college Republicans club, said he “was for anybody but Trump, leaning toward DeSantis.”
“She said, ‘If you send one rocket to me, we will send one back.’ I love that,” Dupuis said of Haley’s comments on Israel. “This is her bread and butter.”
Some attendees said they haven’t yet heard a suitable rebuke from any of the GOP candidates.
“We have to say that this was an act of violence against the Jewish people and it cannot be supported in any way,” said Brittany Ping, chair of the Manchester Republican Committee. “I’m waiting for a presidential candidate to really lay it out. . . . I’m little sad I haven’t seen it yet, but there’s a lot more to come.”
The violence unfolding in Israel has at the same time accentuated divides within the GOP field, which continues to scrabble for ways to dent Trump’s formidable polling lead.
Candidates such as Haley and former vice president Mike Pence, who also appeared in Nashua on Friday, support a muscular American presence on the world stage, and in recent days have slammed their rivals — including Trump — for embracing isolationism in the face of threats to global security.
In the immediate aftermath of Hamas attack on Israel, Pence last Saturday blasted “voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ron DeSantis that I believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that America is the leader of the free world,” Politico reported.
The candidates Pence named have expressed a desire to see the United States step back from global conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine. They also all denounced Hamas’ attack on Israel and pledged support.
Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotech entrepreneur, took a swing at Pence and Haley, calling their Israel-related comments “histrionics” that “are unhelpful and unserious.”
Beyond inter-party fighting, the Israel-Hamas conflict has become a way for Republican presidential hopefuls to sharpen their general election attacks against President Biden. The president, who is running for reelection, has been receiving flack for his September deal with Iran that unfroze $6 billion in Iranian assets to release five US citizens detained in Iran. None of the funds have been released to Iran, and under pressure from members of Congress, Biden officials earlier this week said they are open to refreezing the money.
Hamas has a militant wing that has long nurtured close ties with Iran.
In a short speech at the Nashua event, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said the attacks in Israel and Palestine “are what our world is under Joe Biden.”
“Think about how bad things have gotten in three years,” she said. “People are craving safety.”
DeSantis echoed the sentiment, adding that “what’s going on in the Middle East . . . shows this country is in disarray,” DeSantis said.
“Our country is in a state of decline,” he said.
Haley, who served as the US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, said that “everybody in the world knows that there would be no Hamas if it wasn’t for Iran.”
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross.