Trump says that the ongoing war in Gaza "harms Israel" in the court of public opinion.

U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that the Israeli war on Gaza is politically damaging to Israel, especially in the U.S. Congress, and warned that Israel must act quickly to end it.   

In an interview published on Monday on the conservative news site "Daily Caller," which supports Trump, the U.S. president said: "Israel needs to end this war. They may be victorious, but they are not winning in the court of public opinion, and that hurts them."

Daily Caller White House correspondent, Reagan Reiss, sat down with Trump for an hour in the Oval Office on Friday, August 29, 2025. Reiss cited a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center last March, which showed a decline in support for Israel among young Republicans. The president acknowledged his awareness of this trend and explained to the interviewer that strong support for Israel in Congress has become a thing of the past.

Reiss asked: A Pew poll showed that 53% of American adults surveyed have a negative view of Israel, down from 42% in 2022. Among young Republicans under 50, 50% have a negative view of Israel, up from 35% in 2022. There is a growing faction within the "America First" coalition (of Republicans, especially young ones) that questions our support for Israel. Are you aware of this faction? Are you concerned about it?

Trump replied: Yes, I am aware of that. Israel is great, because I, you know, have good support in Israel. No one has done more for Israel than I have, including the recent attacks on Iran, which took out that thing (the nuclear facilities). We, with that plane (B-2), took them out like never before. You know, we came back and CNN was trying to say, "Well, maybe it wasn't complete," and it turned out it was completely complete, even more than complete. But when you go back 20 years, let me tell you, Israel had the strongest lobbying group in Congress; stronger than any entity, company, institution, or country I have ever seen in my life. Israel was the strongest. Today, it does not have a strong lobby like that. It's amazing."

Trump added: "There was a time when you couldn't say anything bad (to any degree about Israel), if you wanted to be political, you couldn't speak badly about Israel. But today, we have, you know, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three others, and all these crazies, and they have really changed the situation. You are too young to realize this, but if you go back 15 years, that might have been the beginning of everything, right? Israel, you will understand this perfectly, was the strongest lobby I have ever seen in my life. They had complete control over Congress, and now they don't, you know, I am a little surprised to see that. And people have forgotten October 7 (2023). You know, October 7 was a really terrible day, because I saw the images."

Reiss: I was in Israel, and we went right into the war where you could hear the sound of bombs in Gaza. We visited the places that started on October 7; it was terrifying. Being there. I understand that."

Trump: "You know, there are those who deny it happened, they are deniers. There are those who deny the Holocaust happened. So, they will have to end that war, because it hurts Israel. There is no doubt about that. They may win the war, but they are not winning in the public relations world, you know, and that hurts them. But Israel was the strongest lobbying group 15 years ago, and now it has been damaged, especially in Congress," adding that "Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, a longtime ally of Trump, recently became the first Republican in the House to claim that Israel is committing 'genocide' in Gaza. Meanwhile, Stephen Bannon, another longtime supporter of Trump, spent the summer claiming that Israel is not a true ally of the United States, describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp as untrustworthy."

It is noted that all recent polls conducted by Gallup, Pew, Quinnipiac, and the University of Maryland last August showed that a clear majority of Americans from all political orientations hold negative views of Israel and support the Palestinian cause.