Trump looks to the UN to bail out his ’20-point plan’ for Gaza
Donald Trump is introduced by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi before delivering remarks at the Tonino Lamborghini International Convention Center in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on 13 October 2025
Mitchell Plitnick writes in Mondoweiss on 7 November 2025:
As Donald Trump’s administration struggles to find ways to implement its fatally flawed “20-Point Plan” for Gaza, it has taken the surprising step of trying to obtain the approval of the United Nations Security Council.
The U.S. has been circulating a draft resolution that would grant UN legitimacy to Trump’s plan and create of a UN-mandated security force tasked with disarming Hamas. It is clear that this cannot hope to be approved without fundamental changes but it is a sure sign the administration is desperate to find a path forward in Gaza. Nor could there be better evidence that Trump’s “peace plan” was, as so many guessed, hastily thrown together with little real planning or thought.
The United States has often turned to the United Nations as a vehicle for putting coalitions together to accomplish some task or to grant legitimacy to some misadventure. But this administration is extreme in its disdain for multilateralism in general and the UN in particular even compared to its most unilateralist predecessors.
The Trump administration faces a quandary in Gaza. They want to stop the major destruction of Israel’s genocide so they and their cronies can cash in on rebuilding the Strip.
In the short term, however, Gaza needs to be stabilized. Israeli troops need to be withdrawn and replaced, but neither Israel nor the U.S. will tolerate a self-governing Palestinian force. Hamas needs to be disarmed and politically neutralized for American ambitions to move forward and to keep Israel at bay.
And all of that needs to be done without direct American military participation. There is already considerable and growing consternation in both the isolationist and “America First” camps in Trump’s base over his policies that are deepening U.S. involvement in issues beyond U.S. borders, especially in the Middle East. Trump can’t afford to stoke that unease by putting American troops in harm’s way in Gaza.
In short, Trump needs accomplices for the next crime in Gaza.