What did Donald Trump do today?
He escalated his ethnic cleansing plan for Gaza into a U.S. invasion plan.Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House today. At a press conference following the meeting, Trump announced that he wanted the United States to "take over" and "own" Gaza, with American military forces if necessary.
Gaza is a densely populated Palestinian territory roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C. Trump also repeated his previous demand that Palestinians abandon the territory entirely. This would be ethnic cleansing.
Pressed for an explanation, Trump insisted that the United States could not only occupy and rebuild the territory, which has been effectively demolished by the Israeli army, but that it could become "the Riviera of the Middle East"—but, he emphasized, one without any Palestinians living in it.
TRUMP: I don't want to be a wise guy, but the—Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so bad, this could be so magnificent, but more importantly than that is the people that have been— Absolutely destroyed, that live there now can live in peace in a much better, uh, situation because they're living in hell and those people will now be able to live in peace. We'll make sure that it's done world class. It will be wonderful for the people. Palestinians, Palestinians, mostly we're talking about, and I have a feeling that despite them saying no, I have a feeling that the king in Jordan and that— The general president, but that the general in Egypt will open their hearts and will give us the kind of land that we need to get this done.
Jordan and Egypt, along with virtually every other Middle Eastern country, have already rejected Trump's forced resettlement plan.
Asked if American military forces would be involved—and it is hard to imagine a scenario in which the United States would occupy some of the most bitterly contested territory on the planet without a massive military presence—Trump said, "If it's necessary, we'll do that."
At times in his remarks, Trump seemed to think that the United States would simply take ownership of Gaza outright, or that this was being offered by Israel. (It is not.)
Trump claimed during the press conference that "this was not a decision made lightly" and that "everybody [he'd] spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land." But it's not clear that he'd discussed this with anyone—even Netanyahu, who appeared surprised and amused. The rollout for major shifts in policy like this are always coordinated, but no military or State Department officials were made available for comment, and no government website including the White House site had any information about the proposed occupation or invasion of Gaza.
One possible voice in Trump's ear was his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who like Trump is the heir to a real estate fortune. Kushner proposed last March that Gaza should be effectively razed for its valuable "waterfront property." Kushner, who is the grandson of Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust and then fled Belarus, said that if he were in charge, he would "do my best to move the people out and then clean it up." 2.1 million people live in Gaza, including 1 million children under the age of 18.
Why does this matter?
- Ethnic cleansing is abhorrent and a crime against humanity.
- A U.S. military invasion of the Middle East would be a catastrophically bad idea, even if it weren't for the purpose of building up "waterfront property."