‘Delivering lasting peace’ or ‘New levels of illegality’? US reacts to Trump’s Gaza plan

Benjamin Netanyahu & Donald Trump at the press conference on 5 February 2025

Ben Samuels reports in Haaretz on 5 February 2025:

WASHINGTON – Republican lawmakers rallied behind Trump’s plan for a U.S. takeover of the Gaza Strip, despite the significant risks it presents that tend to go against GOP interests. Jewish groups and Democrats slammed the plan as “incomprehensible” and “legally and morally unacceptable.”

“The world is looking to the United States for leadership, and President Trump is delivering lasting peace!” said Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R – TX). “Today’s announcement put Hamas, Iran, and all our enemies on notice – the U.S. will NOT continue the status quo that has empowered terrorists and created a humanitarian disaster.”  Rep. Brian Jack (R – GA) added, “through President Trump’s leadership, we will finally achieve peace in the Middle East!”

White House communications director Steven Cheung, meanwhile, said that “Trump is 100 percent correct. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing, expecting a different result. Peace – truly lasting peace – is the ultimate goal. And it can only happen with this President.”

In contrast, Andrew Miller, the former State Department point person on Israel-Palestine under Anthony Blinken, described Trump’s plan as “literally the most incomprehensible policy proposal I have ever heard from an American president.”  “U.S. intervention would needlessly risk the lives of American soldiers and represent a security liability for the United States in a region where we are trying to reduce our presence,” Miller said. “Of course, the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza would represent a war crime, exposing the United States to scrutiny by the International Criminal Court.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D – CT), the most outspoken Democrat against Trump over the past few weeks, said: “I have news for you – we aren’t taking over Gaza. But the media and the chattering class will focus on it for a few days, and Trump will have succeeded in distracting everyone from the real story – the billionaires seizing government to steal from regular people.”

In an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D – MD) said: “He just said that it will be United States policy to forcibly displace two million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. That is ethnic cleansing by another name.”

The liberal Jewish group J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, said that his organization “cannot express strongly enough opposition to the ideas being put forward by President Trump regarding Gaza.”  “There aren’t adequate words to express our disgust at the idea of forcible displacement of Palestinians with the assistance of the United States of America,” he said.  “With his words and actions, President Trump is setting new levels of irresponsibility and illegality,” he added, “– not simply on issues relating to Israel and Palestine but across the board – as he looks to take apart our government, our democracy and the rule of law in this country.”  “We also worry that the President’s words mean the end of the cease-fire agreement and amount to a death sentence for hostages still held by Hamas,” Ben-Ami concluded.

Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), said that “Jewish Americans overwhelmingly reject and disapprove of Donald Trump because his policies and rhetoric are antithetical to our values. Tonight’s press conference with Prime Minister Netanyahu was no exception.”  “The notion that the United States is going to ‘take over’ Gaza, including with the deployment of U.S. troops, isn’t just extreme – it’s completely detached from reality. In what world is this happening? Not the one we inhabit. Netanyahu praised his ‘out of the box’ thinking, but let’s be honest – it’s insane,” Soifer said.

On Tuesday, during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump announced that he will pursue a plan where the U.S. assumes ownership of Gaza and takes responsibility for clearing it out and developing it. The Palestinians would be moved to “countries of interest with humanitarian hearts,” he said, where “They’re going to have peace, not [get] shot at, killed and destroyed like this civilization of wonderful people have had to endure.”

According to Trump, Gaza will be “something the entire Middle East can be very proud of.”

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