If your first reaction to a plan for ethnic cleansing is "LOL, perfect chance for a 2024 dunk," maybe examine your conscience.
Jack Mirkinson
February 5, 2025
Jack Mirkinson
February 5, 2025
Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced that he wants to seize and ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip, permanently removing all Palestinians and having the United States take the territory for itself.
This is, very obviously, a monstrous proposal from a monstrous person. It’s also complete madness. Palestinians are not simply going to pack up and leave just because Donald Trump floats a stupid plan to turn Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East.” Trump’s scheme could only be carried out with mass bloodshed, a lengthy American military presence, and the consent of a string of Arab countries who have no reason to implicate themselves in a world-historical crime against humanity of this nature. I’m not one to say something could never happen, but the odds are firmly against this thing. Even so, the mere idea of it is a despicable insult to the people of Gaza, who are still reeling from the effects of the Israeli-American genocide.
There were lots of different reactions to Trump’s comments. Most decent people were horrified. A long list of foreign governments took pains to distance themselves. And, of course, a coterie of nitwits emerged to praise Trump for his outside-the-box thinking.
But I don’t want to focus on those people today. Instead, I want to look at a group of people whose first thought upon hearing Trump’s announcement was not “what will this mean for Palestine” or “what the hell is Trump on about,” but rather, “How can I use this piece of news to try and score points about the 2024 election?” I’m fixated on them because there is something particularly grotesque about that, and because, in their rush to crack smug jokes about Gaza’s current plight, they reveal their utter contempt for the actual Palestinian people whose lives and futures are at stake.
Finish article on Discourseblog.com.
This is, very obviously, a monstrous proposal from a monstrous person. It’s also complete madness. Palestinians are not simply going to pack up and leave just because Donald Trump floats a stupid plan to turn Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East.” Trump’s scheme could only be carried out with mass bloodshed, a lengthy American military presence, and the consent of a string of Arab countries who have no reason to implicate themselves in a world-historical crime against humanity of this nature. I’m not one to say something could never happen, but the odds are firmly against this thing. Even so, the mere idea of it is a despicable insult to the people of Gaza, who are still reeling from the effects of the Israeli-American genocide.
There were lots of different reactions to Trump’s comments. Most decent people were horrified. A long list of foreign governments took pains to distance themselves. And, of course, a coterie of nitwits emerged to praise Trump for his outside-the-box thinking.
But I don’t want to focus on those people today. Instead, I want to look at a group of people whose first thought upon hearing Trump’s announcement was not “what will this mean for Palestine” or “what the hell is Trump on about,” but rather, “How can I use this piece of news to try and score points about the 2024 election?” I’m fixated on them because there is something particularly grotesque about that, and because, in their rush to crack smug jokes about Gaza’s current plight, they reveal their utter contempt for the actual Palestinian people whose lives and futures are at stake.
Finish article on Discourseblog.com.