‘Encourage Immigration Now’: Ben-Gvir, Smotrich Welcome Trump’s “Clean Out” Gaza Remarks
Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- Israeli far-right ministers have welcomed US President Donald Trump’s idea to “clean out” the war-torn Gaza Strip by displacing 1.5 million Palestinians to Egypt, Jordan and other Arab nations.
On Saturday, Trump said during a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard the Air Force that he would like Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations to increase the number of Palestinian refugees they accept from Gaza.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, “The idea of helping them find other places to start a better life is a great idea. After years of glorifying terrorism, they will be able to establish new and good lives in other places.”
Former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said, “Congratulations to US President Trump on the initiative to transfer residents from Gaza to Jordan and Egypt,” said Ben-Gvir, who resigned from his role earlier this month, in protest of the ceasefire deal in Gaza.
“One of our demands from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to encourage voluntary immigration, and when the president of the world’s largest power, Trump, himself raises the idea, it would be wise for the Israeli government to implement it – encourage immigration now!”
On his larger vision for Gaza, Trump said he had called earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.
“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’”
Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, “I’d love for you to take on more, cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”
Trump added the part of the world that encompasses Gaza, has “had many, many conflicts” over centuries. He said resettling “could be temporary or long term.”
“Something has to happen,” Trump said. “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.”
He added: “So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
Trump has offered non-traditional views on the future of Gaza in the past. He suggested after he was inaugurated on Monday that Gaza has “really got to be rebuilt in a different way.”
The new president added then, ”Gaza is interesting. It’s a phenomenal location, on the sea. The best weather, you know, everything is good. It’s like, some beautiful things could be done with it, but it’s very interesting.”
The two ministers have previously made racist remarks about Palestinians, used genocidal language, called for Israeli settlements in Gaza, and encouraged immigration.
