A former Democrat Representative who served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives officially endorsed former President Donald Trump on Monday.

Peter Deutsch, who served Florida’s 20th Congressional District from 1993-2005, discussed his concerns today about the security of Israel as his main reason for supporting Trump. The announcement was made during a conference call arranged by the Trump campaign, commemorating the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel.

“I feel very comfortable today publicly announcing that I’m endorsing Donald Trump to be reelected as president,” Deutsch said on the call, according to Jewish Insider. He contended that the current administration’s approach, under Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, has only served to embolden Iran—a point shown by Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack on Israel last week.

Representative Peter Deutsch

“Their policies towards Iran make the world a dramatically less safe place,” Deutsch, who is Jewish, stated during the call. “It’s not just about what is happening in the Middle East. It’s literally about the homeland. It’s about Israel. Iran, their enemy is not just Israel — their enemy remains the United States. They still want to destroy the United States,” he added.

Monday marks a year since the coordinated attack by Hamas and other Palestinian nationalist militant groups, known as Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, targeted southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. This was the first such invasion since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, occurring on the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah. The assaults involved over 4,300 rockets and incursions at 119 points along the Gaza-Israel barrier, leading to significant casualties and destruction.  In total, 1,139 individuals were killed, including 695 Israeli civilians and 373 security personnel.

The October 7th attack also resulted in the abduction of about 250 Israelis. Globally, the incident drew widespread condemnation as an act of terrorism, although some attributed the violence to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The day is regarded as one of the bloodiest in Israeli history and notably severe in the context of Jewish historical tragedies.

Deutsch said that the Biden-Harris administration “would make Neville Chamberlain proud in terms of how they’re reacting,” Deutsch commented, pointing out that the “driving force” behind his endorsement is “really world peace,” Deutsch continued. “For what I believe is the most important job of the president of the United States, which is trying to retain peace in the world, there is an extraordinarily clear choice,” he explained. “I think every American, hopefully, will come to the same conclusion that I have, that President Trump should become the next president of the United States.”

“I take this decision very, very seriously. I also feel 100% comfortable with the decision,” Deutsch explained.

The ongoing war in Gaza has resulted in over 41,000 casualties and escalated into a regional crisis. Recently, Israel intensified its military actions by targeting various sites in northern Gaza, including a hospital area. The conflict has expanded to involve multiple fronts against Iran and its allies like Hezbollah and Hamas. In response to an Iranian missile attack, Israel has aggressively bombed Beirut, leading to more than 1,400 fatalities in Lebanon according to CNN. Meanwhile, a Hezbollah rocket strike on Haifa, marking its first assault on the city in this conflict, injured five Israelis.

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