In explaining that Hamas is full of “hatred” toward Israelis, President Donald Trump attempted to back up his assertion by outlining his bizarre series of questions to former Israeli hostages.
“I said to them, ‘was there any sign of love? You were there. … Did Hamas show any signs of, like, help, or liking you?” Trump told reporters during as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House on Monday.
“Did they wink at you? Did they give you a piece of bread extra? Did they give you a meal on the side? Like what happened in Germany … people would try and help people that were in unbelievable distress,” Trump continued.
“They said, ‘no.’ I said, ‘All of them?’ I said, ‘Did they ever wink at you, like, you’ll be OK? You’re gonna be OK?’ ‘No, they didn’t do that. They’d slap us,‘” the president said. “The hatred is unbelievable.”
Trump then went on to describe the hostages’ living conditions inside Gaza.
“And the lives – you know, they lived in a pipe,” Trump said. “Not really a tunnel, it was a pipe. And they always thought they were suffocating, they were gonna suffocate.”
Netanyahu made a hastily arranged visit to the White House — his second in just over two months — to discuss the tariffs Trump has unleashed on countries around the world, Iran’s nuclear program and the Israel-Hamas war.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
