Donald Trump recently said that “I hate my opponent.” Now the US president is making them pay.The indictment of former FBI chief and critic James Comey is the starkest and most high-profile confirmation of Trump’s repeated vows to exact revenge on his political enemies.But the Republican has made it clear it’s only the beginning. Trump called on Friday for more prosecutions of his foes as he continues to shatter the norms of American politics.”I hope there will be others,” Trump told reporters at the White House, describing Comey as a “dirty cop.”Trump has long fumed about Comey for the investigation that the FBI conducted into whether Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.Democrats said Trump’s targeting of his opponents resembled those in authoritarian regimes. Andrew Bates, former senior deputy press secretary in president Joe Biden’s White House, said Trump was already “historically unpopular” because of a failure to tackle “costs, chaos and corruption that he promised to fight.””I don’t see the genius in following that up with ‘watch me spit on George Washington’s memory so I can dress up like Kim Jong Un,'” Bates told AFP.- ‘Witch hunt’ -Trump’s administration insists it is not about weaponizing justice — the exact same thing it has accused Biden of doing.”It’s about justice really, it’s not revenge,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “They are sick, radical left people, and they can’t get away with it.”But other recent comments showed how personal it was for the 79-year-old.”James ‘Dirty Cop’ Comey was a destroyer of lives” Trump said on Truth Social just hours earlier.By “lives,” Trump meant his own, from what he calls the Russia “witch-hunt” to the series of criminal and civil charges following his 2020 election defeat and the January 6 2021 Capitol riots. Now critics say it is Trump leading a witch hunt since his return to office. He has made unprecedented use of presidential power to make law firms, universities, federal employees and media outlets have all been forced to bend the knee.He has also loaded the top echelons of US justice with allies, including the conspiracy theory-promoting Kash Patel as the current FBI chief.But his revenge campaign has now entered a new stage in which his opponents now risk time behind bars.The American Civil Liberties Union said Comey’s indictment was “the latest in a series of Trump Administration actions targeting political opponents of the president and exploiting the powers of the federal government to do so.”- ‘There will be others’ -Trump has also given up any pretense of maintaining the firewall between the White House and the Justice Department that US presidents have insisted on since the Watergate scandal toppled Richard Nixon in the 1970s.At the weekend Trump publicly berated Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to take any action against Comey and others — and got his wish within days.Future targets could include former New York state prosecutor Letitia James, who brought a civil fraud case against Trump, and California Senator Adam Schiff, who led the prosecution at the president’s first impeachment in 2019.The Justice Department is reportedly pushing for charges against John Bolton, Trump’s former national security advisor-turned-critic, whose house was raided by FBI agents recently.”It’s not a list but I think there will be others,” Trump said Friday.When it comes to his attitude to his perceived enemies, Trump said the quiet part out loud earlier this month at the funeral of assassinated right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.Noting that the combative Kirk had still wished his opponents well, Trump said: “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Friday in an angry UN address to block a Palestinian state, accusing European leaders of pushing his country into “national suicide” and rewarding Hamas.Netanyahu, who said his speech was being partially broadcast on Israeli military loudspeakers in Gaza, vowed to “finish the job” against Hamas even as President Donald Trump said he thought he had sealed a deal on a ceasefire.Days after Britain, France and other Western powers recognized a state of Palestine, Netanyahu said that they had sent “a very clear message that murdering Jews pays off.””Israel will not allow you to shove a terrorist state down our throats,” Netanyahu said.”We will not commit national suicide because you don’t have the guts to face down the hostile media and antisemitic mobs demanding Israel’s blood,” he said.Hamas carried out the worst-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering a relentless Israeli offensive in Gaza.Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, a rival of Hamas, condemned the attack as well as antisemitism in his own address Thursday, which he delivered virtually after the United States refused him a visa.Netanyahu — who has opposed a Palestinian state for decades — mocked Western support for Abbas and called the Palestinian Authority “corrupt to the core.”But Palestinian foreign ministry official Adel Atieh called Netanyahu’s address “the speech of a defeated man.” Netanyahu notably did not touch on the issue of annexing the West Bank, which some members of his cabinet have threatened as a way to kill any prospect of a real Palestinian state.Trump, normally a staunch ally of Netanyahu, has warned against annexation as he pitches a peace plan on Gaza that would include the disarmament of Hamas.Netanyahu went out of his way to praise Trump, whom he will meet Monday in Washington.Trump said Friday just after Netanyahu spoke, “I think we have a deal.”Former British prime minister Tony Blair was floated in some media reports as a possible leader of a transitional authority for Gaza under the US proposals.- Protests and circuitous route -With Netanyahu facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over war crime allegations, including using starvation as a weapon, the Israeli prime minister took an unusual route to New York that included flying over the narrow Strait of Gibraltar.As he walked up to the General Assembly rostrum many delegations walked out. Protesters marched nearby in Times Square calling for his arrest.”War criminals don’t deserve any peace of mind. They don’t deserve any sleep,” said Andrea Mirez, a young woman who kept up an overnight noisy protest outside Netanyahu’s hotel.Netanyahu in his address aggressively challenged allegations that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, noting Gazans were repeatedly urged to flee.However, humanitarian law also considers forced displacement to be a war crime. Nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been displaced during the war.The October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas killed 1,219 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally from Israeli official figures, in the deadliest day in the country’s history.Israel’s offensive has killed more than 65,549 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.Twenty people across Gaza were killed Friday ahead of Netanyahu’s speech alone, Gaza’s civil defense agency reported.Medical charity Doctors without Borders said Friday it had been forced to suspend its work in Gaza City because of the ongoing Israeli offensive.- ‘Not forgotten you’ -Netanyahu said that his speech was broadcast in part on loudspeaker in hopes of reaching both Hamas leaders and hostages still held since the October 7, 2023 attack.”We have not forgotten you — not even for a second,” Netanyahu said in Hebrew.A number of hostage families have criticized Netanyahu’s renewed military campaign and sought a ceasefire to save their loved ones.Netanyahu spoke months after he ordered a major bombing campaign of Iran’s nuclear sites.During his speech he showed a map of the Middle East, taking out a pen to cross out adversaries Israel has killed. Iran boycotted the speech.