Trump’s bellicose rhetoric to ‘clean out’ Gaza tied to deep pockets of Zionist lobby

By Maryam Qarehgozlou

During a brief interaction with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said he would like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries take in Palestinian refugees to “just clean out” the war-ravaged territory.

“I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take people,” the newly-elected US president said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, we just clean out that whole thing.”

The proposal, which would effectively displace Palestinians from their homeland, has raised fears of another wave of ethnic cleansing against the illegally occupied people of Palestine.

Trump indicated that he had spoken with King Abdullah II of Jordan and planned to discuss the matter with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

Hamas resistance movement condemned Trump’s proposal, while Jordan and Egypt rejected the idea. Islamic Jihad also slammed Trump’s “deplorable” suggestion, calling it an endorsement of “war crimes.”

Trump’s “proposal falls within the framework of encouraging war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land,” the Gaza-based resistance group said.

The idea of forcibly relocating Gazans to neighboring countries has been a longstanding suggestion among members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.

Former minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he commended Trump “for the initiative to transfer residents from Gaza to Jordan and Egypt.”

Far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich also welcomed Trump’s “great idea” to expel Gaza’s residents to Egypt and Jordan and called on Netanyahu’s cabinet “to ensure there is an operational plan to implement this as soon as possible.”

For Palestinians, any proposal to relocate them from Gaza would painfully recall the traumatic events of the “Nakba,” or catastrophe – the forced displacement of approximately 750,000 Palestinians during Israel’s initial occupation of Palestinian territories in 1948.

Currently, more than two million Palestinian refugees, most of whom have obtained citizenship, live in Jordan, as reported by the UN and other international agencies. 

More Zionist than Zionists: Joe Biden’s legacy to be defined by Gaza genocide

The defining feature of the legacy of outgoing US president, Joe Biden, has been his ironclad support for the Israeli regime amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

In another bombshell, Trump said he ended his predecessor Joe Biden’s hold on dispatching 2,000-pound bombs to the Israeli regime, adding that they have been “waiting for them for a long time.”

Netanyahu thanked Trump for “keeping your promise to give Israel the tools it needs to defend itself.”

Biden had halted the bomb shipments in May as part of “failed efforts” to prevent Israel from launching an all-out assault on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, even though his administration continued to supply other lethal weapons to the tune of billions of dollars. 

Estimates suggest that the blast radius of a 2,000-pound bomb can extend up to several hundred meters, posing a significant threat to human life and infrastructure within that range.

The recent developments follow the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on January 19 after more than 47,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, were killed in the Zionist military’s relentless bombing of besieged the Gaza Strip.

The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents were displaced, some of them multiple times, over the past 15 months of the Israeli onslaught, which devastated much of the strip’s infrastructure.

Trump also decided to lift sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, paving the way for more violent settler raids against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. 

Soon after returning to the White House last Monday, the US president issued an executive order, lifting sanctions against illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

The sanctions imposed by Biden via an executive order in February 2024 blocked Israeli settlers and entities from accessing US property, assets, and the American financial system.

Biden’s sanctions on select settler groups and individuals were criticized as “symbolic” by activists and seen as an attempt to alleviate international pressure over US arms sales to the Israeli regime.

Settler violence has long plagued Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, with soaring attacks and land theft continuing since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza was launched on October 7, 2023.

Over the past 15 months, at least 860 Palestinians, including 175 children, have been killed and more than 6,700 wounded in attacks by the Israeli military and settlers across the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Biden’s West Asia policy has been a 'disaster' that will 'haunt his legacy': Activist

US President Joe Biden’s foreign policy, particularly in West Asia, has been a “disaster” that will “haunt his legacy,” says a US-based activist and academic.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded the highest number of attacks in the nearly two decades since it began documenting such incidents through 2024, the period during which US sanctions were imposed.

“Approximately 4,250 Palestinians displaced 1,760 structures destroyed, and about 1,400 incidents involving Israeli settlers across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” OCHA said.

Despite their ineffectiveness on the ground, the sanctions provoked anger among Israeli regime authorities, who openly celebrated Trump’s “historic decision” to reverse the restrictions.

Yossi Dagan, head of the Northern West Bank Settlements Council, said the reversal of what he termed “scandalous sanctions” was “a political message that the United States has returned to being our friend,” according to Israeli media.

Pro-settlement, former Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned earlier in protest against the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, also praised the reversal of sanctions, stating on X, formerly Twitter, that it was “a righting of an injustice of many years.”

Ben-Gvir’s political ally, Bezalel Smotrich, characterized the sanctions as “a serious act of blatant foreign interference in Israel’s internal affairs.”

Following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israel occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, a region Palestinians see as integral to their future independent state. Throughout this time, Israel has built hundreds of Jewish settlements in the area, which are considered illegal under international law.

In 2019, during his first term in office, Trump discarded the long-held US position regarding the illegality of these settlements, a stance that was later reinstated by Biden.

As the anticipation of Trump’s return to the White House loomed in November, Smotrich issued a controversial order for preparations to “annex the West Bank.”

Biden’s West Asia policy has been a 'disaster' that will 'haunt his legacy': Activist

US President Joe Biden’s foreign policy, particularly in West Asia, has been a “disaster” that will “haunt his legacy,” says a US-based activist and academic.

Trump’s first term (January 2017-January 2021) was also characterized by a series of actions demonstrating his unwavering pro-Israel stance at the expense of international laws.

Notable examples include moving the US embassy to the occupied al-Quds, recognizing Israel’s illegal annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights, and presenting an initiative that would have recognized Israeli sovereignty over illegal settlement blocs in the West Bank.

Recent orders, statements, and appointments within his administration suggest that Trump 2.0 is poised to maintain the same pro-Israel trajectory throughout his next term in office.

The appointment of staunchly pro-Israel individuals to key positions within the Trump administration, such as pro-settlement Mike Huckabee as US Ambassador to the Israeli-occupied territories, as well as his “mega-donor” billionaire Miriam Adelson, who supports the Israeli “annexation of the West Bank,” suggest that Israeli ambitions for occupying more territories could be drawing nearer.

Other key figures include newly-appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has a history of advocating for Israel’s so-called “right to defend itself” and has supported measures to strengthen US-Israel relations, and Pete Hegseth, the new Secretary of Defense, who has expressed support for “Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.”

Moreover, Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik who has been nominated as the US Ambassador to the United Nations had previously spoken of Israel’s “biblical right” to the West Bank.

According to analysts, Trump’s actions are a direct repayment to the Israeli lobby, which has invested significant financial resources in his election campaigns over the past decade, raising concerns about the dangerous implications of the Republican president’s foreign policy on the ground.

In recent years, several pro-Israel political action committees (PACs) and organizations have made substantial financial contributions to influence political campaigns in the United States, as documented by AIPAC Tracker, a grassroots anti-Zionist organization.

These contributions have sponsored campaigns of politicians who align with pro-Israel interests and have worked to influence the outcome of elections in the United States.

Preserve America PAC, primarily funded by Sheldon and Miriam Adelson in 2020, and by Miriam Adelson following her husband’s death, has made substantial contributions and expenditures for both pro-Trump and anti-Harris/Biden advertising.

In 2020, the PAC spent $102,990,139 on anti-Biden advertising. In 2024, they allocated $112,266,880 for anti-Harris advertising and $55,000 for pro-Trump digital advertising.

The Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund has also been instrumental in backing pro-Trump and anti-Harris/Biden campaigns. In 2020, the coalition spent $2,651,400 on anti-Biden advertising and $1,019,192 on pro-Trump advertising.

In 2024, the fund allocated $10,093,844 to anti-Harris advertising and $252,650 to pro-Trump advertising.

The Israel lobby's direct campaign contributions also amounted to $198 in 2016, $894,032 in 2020, and $4,724 in 2024.

#BribedByAIPAC: US lawmakers on Zionist lobby payroll irked by ICC arrest warrants

Many US lawmakers who are on the payroll of the Zionist lobby group AIPAC have been vocal in their criticism of ICC arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

Combined, these contributions amount to a staggering $230,423,644, highlighting the significant influence these organizations wield in shaping political campaigns and elections in the United States.

Trump is not the only American politician who benefits from the Israeli lobby’s considerable donations.

In November, AIPAC Tracker revealed that Senator John Thune and numerous other US lawmakers have received substantial financial backing from powerful Zionist lobby groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), shedding light on the lobby’s pervasive influence in shaping American policy in favor of the Tel Aviv regime.

The revelation came in the wake of the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants issued for Netanyahu and his former war minister Yoav Gallant over genocide in Gaza, prompting several American politicians to respond with threats and calls for sanctions against the court.

AIPAC, initially known as the American Zionist Council, was founded by Isiah Kenen, a contractor for the Zionist regime, in 1963. Shortly after the American Zionist Council was ordered to register as a foreign agent, Kenen established AIPAC, which notably did not register as a foreign agent.

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