Al-Awkward? Trump trips over iconic mosque's name as he unveils long-awaited Middle East peace plan

28 Jan, 2020 18:35 / Updated 4 years ago

US President Donald Trump promised Palestinians that all Muslims would be able to worship at the “Al-Aqua mosque” under his Middle East “deal of the century” peace plan – presumably referring to Al-Aqsa.

Trump tripped over the name of the mosque – one of the holiest sites in Islam, positioned squarely on top of a site Israel has long coveted for its own Third Temple – as he revealed the details of his long-awaited peace plan on Tuesday with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Israel, along with Jordan’s King Abdullah, will “ensure that the status quo of the Temple Mount is preserved, and all Muslims who wish to visit peacefully and pray at the al-Aqua mosque will be able to do so,” Trump pledged.

He proceeded to fumble the name of the US-assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, adding that “he was with the head of Hezbollah, and I don’t think they were up to anything good” when the leader of the Quds Force was killed in a US airstrike at Baghdad airport.

Despite the blunders, Trump got a standing ovation after mentioning the assassination – significantly more applause than he’d received for promising Palestinians more than double their current territory and $50 billion in investment. The exact location of that territory wasn’t specified, and another promise – that neither Palestinians nor Israelis would be “uprooted from their homes” – suggested it might not be in what is currently considered Palestine.

Trump later said the iconic mosque’s name correctly, reassuring doubters he was in fact talking about Al-Aqsa and not a new ‘Trump Palestine’ casino complex yet to be revealed.

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