Those who thought President Donald Trump could not be any worse than President Joe Biden on the Gaza issue had a rude awakening yesterday after his surreal press conference at the White House with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The two leaders smiled at each other as they casually discussed plans for ethnically cleansing the Palestinian territory, which has been razed with the loss of at least 46,000 lives since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023.
Former real estate developer Trump referred to Gaza as the potential ‘Riviera of the Middle East’. And where will the two million Gazans go? Refugee camps in neighbouring countries, apparently, regardless of what those countries have to say about it. Some might be able to return, if they can afford it.
According to Trump, ‘The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative. It’s right now a demolition site.’
He went on to say, ‘The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. Do a real job, do something different.
‘Saudi Arabia is going to be very helpful, and they have been very helpful. They want peace in the Middle East. It’s very simple. We know their leader and their leaders very well. They’re wonderful people, and they want peace in the Middle East.
‘As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary,’ he said. ‘If it’s necessary, we’ll do that. We’re going to take over that piece, and we’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it will be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of.’
Greatest friend
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under investigation in his own country for multiple corruption charges, responded by saying, ‘You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.’
In response to a journalist’s question about ownership of another people’s sovereign territory, President Trump said, ‘Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land… I’ve studied this very closely over a lot of months.’
Late last year, the UN General Assembly voted 124-14 in favour of a Palestinian resolution demanding Israel end its ‘unlawful presence’ in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year.
The United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestian territories, Francesca Albanese said this morning that Trump’s Gaza proposal is ‘utterly unlawful’.
Some Republican allies within the USA have also expressed dismay at the idea. ‘I thought we voted for America first,’ said Republican Senator Rand Paul. ‘We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers blood.’
Trump’s latest press conference came against the backdrop of his unelected ‘best buddy’ and the world’s richest man Elon Musk’s ongoing dismantling of the American public service.
There is a growing group of protesters rallying outside the treasury department in Washington to protest the illegal takeover of the federal payments system, following the unlawful destruction of the Unites States Agency for International Development. Thousands more protesters are outside the US Department of Labor, where the rights of workers are currently being shredded.
As American humanitarian support across the globe is shuttered without the approval of Congress, Washington is currently preparing to provide a new package of weapons and military equipment to Israel valued at $1 billion, as reported by the Wall Street Journal and The Times of Israel. This includes thousands of large bombs and armoured bulldozers.
Australia’s opposition leader Peter Dutton responded to Trump’s latest Gaza proposals by describing the American president as a ‘big thinker’.
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