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A satirical news story claiming Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump wants to move Palestinians out of the Middle East and give them Puerto Rico prompted an angry reaction from a Muslim cleric, who apparently believed the report was true.
In a recent sermon in Jerusalem, Sheik Issam Amira of Hizb Al-Tahrir said Trump “has revealed his ‘Trump Plan’ to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict.”
The cleric cited the article, which has Trump saying, “Give the American island of Puerto Rico to the Palestinians, and build them a replica of the Al-Aqsa mosque.”
Amira reacted: “We say to that Trump: Palestine is not the same as Puerto Rico. And the Al-Aqsa mosque is not a mere building made of stone.”
A video of the sermon was posted by the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors and analyzes media in the region.
The Trump “report” was posted by the satirical site The Mideast Beast under the headline “Donald Trump: Move the Palestinians to Puerto Rico.”
The fictional story said Trump wants the U.S. to “fund the relocation of all four or so million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Caribbean archipelago, and offer them ‘free housing, job training and a lifetime supply of deodorant.'”
Other headlines on the satirical site were “Saudi Government Torn Over Whether to Let Caitlyn Jenner Drive” and “Tel Aviv Declared Second Holiest Site in Homosexuality.”
The article about the “Trump plan” had the billionaire real-estate mogul planning a topless “72 Virgins Casino” and “Shoot Your Own Rocket” and “Dig Your Own Tunnel” workshops.
