From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Trump scrutinized after making baseless claim he’s been to Gaza
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Republican US presidential candidate has been under scrutiny after claiming in a Monday interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt that he has previously visited Gaza.
“I’ve been there and it’s rough,” he said. “It’s a rough place before the, you know, before all of the attacks and back and forth what’s happened over the last couple of years.”
Multiple major American outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN, have since said there is no record of any such trip.
The Times of Israel has previously reported that Trump never even visited Israel before his presidency, and public records show Trump wasn’t in Gaza as president.
Trump’s campaign has not been forthcoming with information about the alleged visit to Gaza.
“President Trump has been to Gaza previously and has always worked to ensure peace in the Middle East,” campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN, refusing to provide further details.
And The New York Times quoted a campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity, making a different claim: that Trump has been to Israel, and “Gaza is in Israel.”
Beyond the fact that Trump in the interview had been talking specifically about Gaza, that latter claim isn’t true. Israel has never annexed the Strip, even when it controlled the territory militarily.
The Times of Israel Community.