Trump’s Gaza ethnic cleansing plan is no bluff. It's what Israel has always wanted
The New York Times recently published a viral opinion video featuring journalist Ezra Klein. Analysing Donald Trump’s political strategy, Klein suggested that not every statement the US president makes should be taken seriously.
Trump’s approach, the video notes, relies on making a barrage of outrageous declarations designed to capture public attention, while his administration quietly advances its true agenda.
Klein’s argument is bolstered by insights from Steve Bannon, Trump’s former senior adviser, who elaborates on the administration’s modus operandi during Trump’s first term.
Klein’s assertions reveal, almost dystopically, the liberal left’s complacency in underestimating Trump’s tangible impacts on vulnerable communities who lack political or military power.
Trump’s first presidency demonstrated a clear seriousness in matters such as immigrant deportation, killing the Iran nuclear deal, relocating the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and brokering normalisation agreements between Israel and Arab states.
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One could argue that Trump only failed when confronted with significant opposition. But for the Global South - especially Palestinians, who suffer under a bipartisan American consensus that deems their blood expendable - Washington brought genocide under a Democratic guise, and now threatens expulsion under Republican leadership.
When Trump speaks of transferring two million Palestinians from Gaza, two critical points must be acknowledged. Firstly, since the onset of the genocide in Gaza, Israel and the Zionist movement have spared no effort or expense in advancing the goal of population transfer by any means necessary.
Political lifeline
Polls show that around 80 percent of Jewish Israelis support such a move. For many Israeli politicians, particularly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this transfer is seen as a potential lifeline to preserve their political standing amid domestic instability.
During the genocide, the Israeli left opposed re-settling Gaza due to security concerns, fearing the difficulty of protecting settlers from armed Palestinian resistance. But with the prospect of a successful transfer, Israeli public opinion seems to increasingly accept - even embrace - the idea of re-settling Gaza.
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It’s crucial to remember that the concepts of transfer and ethnic cleansing are not new to Israeli society or leadership. Since the inception of Zionism, there has been a consistent effort to promote these ideas, culminating in the Nakba, during which around 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their lands, becoming refugees in neighbouring countries.
The second crucial point regarding Trump’s Gaza transfer plan is that the US leader has historically only failed when facing substantial political resistance, whether domestically or internationally.
In the current reality, Palestinians in Gaza have endured a highly publicised genocide, with harrowing images of dead children from American-made bombs flooding the media daily. Yet, the West has remained largely silent, beyond grassroots movements and courageous student protests. Meanwhile, the US exerted enough pressure to destabilise the International Criminal Court’s operations in The Hague.
Tragically, while western societies saw widespread protests, Arab governments and the Palestinian Authority brutally suppressed antiwar demonstrations, and maintained diplomatic and economic ties with Israel during the genocide. Their so-called red line was merely to prevent the transfer of Palestinians into their own territories.
Thus far, opposition from Arab states to Trump’s transfer plan appears to stem not from moral outrage over Palestinian suffering, but from concerns about the potential destabilisation of their own national security should refugees cross into their territory.
This is why I do not take their objections seriously as ethical positions. Their resistance is against the physical relocation of Palestinians into their countries, not against the transfer itself. If Israel and Trump proposed relocating Palestinians to Antarctica or Mars, I doubt those who remained silent during the deaths of at least 18,000 Palestinian children in Gaza would raise any objections.
War footing
Since Trump announced the transfer plan, Israel has been preparing aggressively for this reality, violating the Gaza ceasefire agreement and readying for renewed military operations.
Backed by US support, Israel has been willing to breach the ceasefire without formally cancelling it, fearing backlash from the families of Israeli prisoners and public opinion. But after Hamas announced the suspension of prisoner exchanges on the basis of Israeli violations, Israel shifted to a war footing, calling up reservists.
In my view, Israel’s readiness is not a bluff; it reflects a genuine intent to enforce the transfer through military means. This might not involve a full reoccupation of Gaza, but rather relentless bombings, starvation, and the creation of unliveable conditions to force Palestinians to flee, echoing the strategies used during the Nakba.
Just because the world is indifferent to a plan to ethnically cleanse an entire population does not mean that Palestinians will submit to that indifference
The widespread Israeli discourse on the transfer sees Trump’s plan as an opportunity not just for Gaza, but also for the occupied West Bank and Palestinian citizens of Israel. The military operations in the northern West Bank, which have displaced tens of thousands of people, and the recent approval of an Israeli law to deport families of attackers to Gaza - three Palestinian citizens of Israel are currently facing deportation - are clear indicators of this broader agenda.
The western world’s indifference to threats from the “leader of the free world” to forcibly transfer two million people should alarm not only the Global South, but also Arab nations.
The instability in the Middle East has already led to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s fall, Hezbollah’s diminishing influence in Lebanon, and severe blows to the resistance axis. Considering Trump’s recent threats to cut aid to Jordan and Egypt unless they accept Palestinian refugees, there is no guarantee that other regional regimes will survive the resulting upheaval.
Ultimately, there is no reason to assume that Trump’s statements about forced displacement are merely another tactical distraction. Precisely because he is talking about Palestinians, we must pay close attention to every word and prepare for the worst.
In addition, just because the world is indifferent to a plan to ethnically cleanse an entire population does not mean that Palestinians will submit to that indifference. The only time Palestinians believed that leaving their homes meant they could return once the danger passed was during the Nakba of 1948. Since then, they have learned that their displacement is never temporary.
Despite facing unprecedented hardships, 400,000 Palestinians remained in northern Gaza during the genocide, enduring starvation, lack of medicine, and horrific living conditions - yet they stayed.
Now, the people of Gaza are preparing to resist again. The looming transfer plans are already shaping a new narrative from within Gaza: one that directly challenges forced displacement and fights for the right to remain in their homeland.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
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