Donald Trump claims to have visited Gaza, says it could be 'better than Monaco'
US presidential candidate Donald Trump has raised eyebrows after telling Hugh Hewitt, a rightwing radio host, that he had visited Gaza, where nearly 42,000 people have been killed and the majority of buildings badly damaged or destroyed in blistering Israeli military attacks responding to last year’s 7 October attack by Hamas. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 about Israelis and took about 250 hostage.
Asked by Hewitt if Gaza could be transformed into Monaco if properly rebuilt, Trump replied:
It could be better than Monaco. It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything. It’s got, it is the best, I’ve said it for years.
I’ve been there, and it’s rough. It’s a rough place … before all of the attacks and before the back and forth what’s happened over the last couple of years.
He went on: “
I mean, they have the back of a plant facing the ocean, you know. There was no ocean as far as that was concerned. They never took advantage of it. You know, as a developer, it could be the most beautiful place – the weather, the water, the whole thing, the climate. It could be so beautiful. It could be the best thing in the Middle East.
Hewitt did not challenge Trump’s assertion to have visited the territory, which had suffered substantial infrastructural damage in repeated clashes between Hamas, the militant group that has dominated it for years, and Israel even before the current war.
However, the New York Times said there was no record of Trump ever having gone there – either when he was president or before.
The paper quoted a campaign official, who said:
Gaza is in Israel. President Trump has been to Israel.
In fact, Gaza has never been part of Israel, although some far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current coalition government have called for its annexation.
Read the full report here:
