A video of the former president of the US, Donald Trump stating “May Allah awaken the people and help them to see the evil doings of Israel and the United States” is being shared on social media, claiming that Trump criticized Israel over ongoing conflict in the region. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Donald Trump criticised the acts of Israel by stating “May Allah awaken the people and help them to see the evil doings of Israel and the United States.”
Fact: This speech was delivered by Donald Trump in 2019 at a campaign rally in Minneapolis. Trump criticised Ilhan Omar, the U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district, quoting her tweet posted in 2012 stating, Omar wrote that Israel has hypnotized the world. May Allah awaken the people and help them to see the evil doings of Israel and the United States. How do you have such a person representing you in Minnesota? His speech was trimmed between the time stamps 1:08:17 and 1:08:29 and shared out of context on social media. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On performing a relevant keyword search regarding the viral claim, we found that this speech was delivered by Donald Trump in 2019 at a campaign rally in Minneapolis. In the original speech, Trump criticised Ilhan Omar, the U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district, quoting her tweet posted in 2012 about Israel which was later deleted.
During the speech, Trump criticised Ilhan Omar by saying “Ilhan Omar has a history of launching virulent, anti-semitic screens, if you like it or not. She said that pro-Israel lawmakers gave an allegiance to a foreign country. Omar wrote that Israel has hypnotized the world. May Allah awaken the people and help them to see the evil doings of Israel and the United States. How do you have such a person representing you in Minnesota? I’m very angry at you right now.” His speech was trimmed between the time stamps 1:08:17 and 1:08:29 and shared on social media.
Subsequent research led us to Omar’s tweet, which expressed criticism toward Israel. It did not mention the United States, contrary to Trump’s depiction. Further, Omar has acknowledged that her statement unintentionally contained an anti-Semitic trope, describing it as “unfortunate and offensive.” On the other hand, during a rally in Iowa on October 8, Trump declared, “Israel’s at war, and the United States has to support Israel. We have to support Israel. There’s been no better president for Israel than me.”
To sum up, an old and unrelated video is being shared as Donald Trump criticising Israel.
