Donald Trump did not say he would kill everybody in Gaza – people suggesting that should not overinflate his words.
They were bad enough anyway. He was referring to the possibility that members of the terrorist group Hamas, that have run Gaza since 2007, were unreasonably refusing to return the bodies of Israeli (and presumably other) hostages who were killed during the conflict with Israel that began on October 7, 2023, along with all hostages still living.
His threat was meaningless: “People of Gaza, a beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!”
If the Israeli occupation forces didn’t find them in more than a year, Trump [pictured] won’t either. In any case, he’s threatening the wrong people – the vast majority of the Gaza citizenry don’t have any knowledge of where the hostages might be. Why should they?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
To This Writer, it seems that Trump is sabre-rattling because his ethnic-cleansing plan for Gaza has been rejected by the Arab League.
He wants United States forces to move in and redevelop the whole territory into a ‘Riviera’ of the Middle East – a holiday destination built over the bodies of Arab women and children. What a revolting thought.
Meanwhile, he would deport the remaining population of the territory to neighbouring Arab countries. They would have no right of return because they would have much better housing in Egypt, Jordan and other countries.
This would be a repeat of the Nakba – the Arabic word for “catastrophe” – when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes before and during the war that followed the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
Not only would this be giving the Israeli government what it wanted when it launched its invasion of Gaza, but it would also break international law. Forced ethnic cleansing of this kind is a crime against humanity, breaks the Geneva Convention, violates the Rome Statute and, yes, even violates the Genocide Convention.
If Trump were to follow through on his words, he would likely face the possibility of an appearance at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, or both in the future.
Meanwhile, the Arab League’s proposal was as follows:
The plan envisages reconstruction taking place over three phases and taking five years, during which some 1.5 million displaced Gazans would be moved into 200,000 prefabricated housing units and 60,000 repaired homes.
In the first phase, which would last six months and cost $3bn, millions of tonnes of rubble and any unexploded ordnance would be cleared.
The second phase, lasting two years and costing $20bn, would see housing and utilities rebuilt. An airport, two seaports and an industrial zone would be built during the third phase, which would take another two years and cost $30bn.
The Arab plan also proposes that an “administrative committee” made up of independent Palestinian technocrats run post-war Gaza for a transitional period while “working towards empowering the Palestinian Authority to return”.
This is of course the logical future.
Israel’s response was so full of doubletalk that it might make your head spin. Apparently the Arab plan “fails to address the realities of the situation” while Trump’s plan “is an opportunity for the Gazans to have free choice based on their free will”. That’s only as long as they choose what Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu are offering them, of course.
The US National Security Council expanded on the claim about the “realities of the situation”, stating: ” Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance.”
Maybe not, but that’s an issue to take up with Israel, whose military put all the debris and unexploded ordnance there.
It is Trump and Netanyahu who are failing to address the reality of the situation, which is that the people of Gaza are not going to be moved by anybody.
They have just spent 15 months surviving a genocidal onslaught by a much better-equipped military power whose bosses wanted (and still want, clearly) to kill them all – living among the debris and unexploded ordnance – and they will continue doing so, for however long it takes until their oppressor – Israel and the United States, not Hamas (at least in their philosophy) – is gone.
Donald Trump’s failure to understand that springs from an inability to understand human nature in such circumstances.
As with Ukraine last week, he thought that if he demonstrated that he had “all the cards” – the military might and the ability to withdraw support – then the people of Gaza would fold, accept his version of reality, and do as they were told.
All he has done is make them believe that he is not a neutral peacekeeper but a supporter of Israel’s genocide.
They will dig in their heels. What will he do in response? If he tries to follow through on his threats, he will be a war criminal.
And war criminals don’t get the Nobel Peace Prize.
Where are Keir Starmer and David Lammy in all this?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Step back, everybody: Trump did not say he would kill everybody in Gaza
Donald Trump did not say he would kill everybody in Gaza – people suggesting that should not overinflate his words.
They were bad enough anyway. He was referring to the possibility that members of the terrorist group Hamas, that have run Gaza since 2007, were unreasonably refusing to return the bodies of Israeli (and presumably other) hostages who were killed during the conflict with Israel that began on October 7, 2023, along with all hostages still living.
His threat was meaningless: “People of Gaza, a beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!”
If the Israeli occupation forces didn’t find them in more than a year, Trump [pictured] won’t either. In any case, he’s threatening the wrong people – the vast majority of the Gaza citizenry don’t have any knowledge of where the hostages might be. Why should they?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
To This Writer, it seems that Trump is sabre-rattling because his ethnic-cleansing plan for Gaza has been rejected by the Arab League.
He wants United States forces to move in and redevelop the whole territory into a ‘Riviera’ of the Middle East – a holiday destination built over the bodies of Arab women and children. What a revolting thought.
Meanwhile, he would deport the remaining population of the territory to neighbouring Arab countries. They would have no right of return because they would have much better housing in Egypt, Jordan and other countries.
This would be a repeat of the Nakba – the Arabic word for “catastrophe” – when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes before and during the war that followed the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
Not only would this be giving the Israeli government what it wanted when it launched its invasion of Gaza, but it would also break international law. Forced ethnic cleansing of this kind is a crime against humanity, breaks the Geneva Convention, violates the Rome Statute and, yes, even violates the Genocide Convention.
If Trump were to follow through on his words, he would likely face the possibility of an appearance at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, or both in the future.
Meanwhile, the Arab League’s proposal was as follows:
This is of course the logical future.
Israel’s response was so full of doubletalk that it might make your head spin. Apparently the Arab plan “fails to address the realities of the situation” while Trump’s plan “is an opportunity for the Gazans to have free choice based on their free will”. That’s only as long as they choose what Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu are offering them, of course.
The US National Security Council expanded on the claim about the “realities of the situation”, stating: ” Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance.”
Maybe not, but that’s an issue to take up with Israel, whose military put all the debris and unexploded ordnance there.
It is Trump and Netanyahu who are failing to address the reality of the situation, which is that the people of Gaza are not going to be moved by anybody.
They have just spent 15 months surviving a genocidal onslaught by a much better-equipped military power whose bosses wanted (and still want, clearly) to kill them all – living among the debris and unexploded ordnance – and they will continue doing so, for however long it takes until their oppressor – Israel and the United States, not Hamas (at least in their philosophy) – is gone.
Donald Trump’s failure to understand that springs from an inability to understand human nature in such circumstances.
As with Ukraine last week, he thought that if he demonstrated that he had “all the cards” – the military might and the ability to withdraw support – then the people of Gaza would fold, accept his version of reality, and do as they were told.
All he has done is make them believe that he is not a neutral peacekeeper but a supporter of Israel’s genocide.
They will dig in their heels. What will he do in response? If he tries to follow through on his threats, he will be a war criminal.
And war criminals don’t get the Nobel Peace Prize.
Where are Keir Starmer and David Lammy in all this?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
you might also like
How much can YOU pay? A&E charges would speed NHS privatisation
Osborne’s bid to end democracy by the back door
Public consultation on anti-democratic trade deal – a sham?