No, Trump did not say Israel 'hypnotized the world.' He was quoting Omar | Fact check

Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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The claim: Donald Trump said Israel 'hypnotized the world,' committed 'evil doings'

An Oct. 9 Facebook video (direct link, archive link) shows former President Donald Trump speaking to a crowd of supporters at a rally.

“Israel has hypnotized the world,” Trump says in the clip. “May Allah awaken the people and help them to see the evil doings of Israel and the United States.”

It was shared more than 200 times in two days.

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Our rating: False

Trump was quoting a social media post made by Rep. Ilhan Omar, not expressing his own position. The short video clip omits the attribution at the start of Trump's comment.

Rally video shows Trump quoting congresswoman's 2012 social media post

The video shows Trump speaking at a rally Oct. 10, 2019, in Minneapolis. He spent several minutes of his speech criticizing Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.

But the version edited down to 14 seconds and posted to Facebook is missing critical context that shows Trump is quoting a social media post made by Omar seven years earlier, not expressing his own views.

Fact check: Trump's false claims about Rep. Ilhan Omar

She wrote the post on the platform X, then known as Twitter, during a 2012 Israeli military offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In it, she stated, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”

The unedited video of the rally shows Trump making clear that he is repeating her words.

“Omar wrote that Israel has hypnotized the world,” Trump said. “May Allah awaken the people and help them to see the evil doings of Israel and the United States.”

The audience booed, and Trump went on to say, “How do you have such a person representing you in Minnesota?”

Omar did not mention the U.S. in her post, which she deleted. She apologized for it in 2019, shortly after she took office, and acknowledged in a later post on X that she unknowingly used offensive, anti-semitic language.

The latest war between Israel and Hamas, which began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip, has left more than 2,300 dead and thousands wounded as of Oct. 11.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump quoted Omar in claim of 'evil doings' by Israel | Fact check