Donald Trump said on Monday he’d been to Gaza as he described how “rough” the region is ― but The New York Times reported there is no record of that.
Political correspondent Maggie Haberman’s article called out the Republican presidential nominee for what appeared to be a casual lie that had no foundation in truth.
In an interview with Hugh Hewitt on Monday, on the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that began the war in Gaza, Trump said the seaside strip could be transformed into something “better than Monaco.”
The region right now is mired in a humanitarian crisis with parts destroyed by Israel’s prolonged retaliation.
“It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything,” Trump said. “It’s got, it is the best, I’ve said it for years. You know when — I’ve been there, and it’s rough. It’s a rough place, before the, you know, before all of the attacks and before the back and forth — what’s happened over the last couple of years.”
The closest Trump has been to Gaza as either president or civilian was the West Bank, the Times noted.
The fib brought to mind other hogwash from the Republican nominee about things that didn’t happen. Like the time he claimed it didn’t rain during his inaugural address. Or that the “head of the Boy Scouts” called him to say he gave the “greatest speech” ever made to the organisation. Or the recent obvious exaggeration that “transgender” classes dominate the public school curriculum.
A Trump official who demanded anonymity explained his Gaza claim thusly: “Gaza is in Israel. President Trump has been to Israel.”
While Gaza was occupied for decades by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War, it is now controlled by Hamas and is not officially in Israel.