Latest news with #TrumpGaza
Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Tony Blair's staff attended meetings about barbarous ‘Gaza riviera' plan. That's too gross for satire
Last February, Donald Trump posted a video to his social media accounts, an AI-generated depiction of a postwar Gaza , in which Dubai -style skyscrapers tower over palm-tree lined beaches, and superyachts glide through crystal blue coastal waters. The video was a kind of fever-dream emanation of the Trump id: a Vegas-style casino-hotel called 'Trump Gaza'; children, bathed in golden twilight sun, dancing on the beach as dollar bills rain down from the heavens; high end luxury cars; many golden statues of golden president himself. And over it all a propulsive Eurodance track, likewise AI-generated, in which a voice rhythmically intones a series of Trumpian affirmations: 'No more tunnels, no more fear/Trump Gaza is finally here/Trump Gaza shining bright/Golden future, a brand new light/Feast and dance, the deal is done/Trump Gaza number one.' With its queasily hyperrealist AI-slop aesthetic, its naked depiction of a programme of ethnic cleansing and its insistent repetition of Trump's graven image, the video amounted to a morbid document of our particular historical moment. In recent days another, related, document has been brought to light, one which recalls the 'Trump Gaza' video in its vision for a postwar redevelopment of the Palestinian enclave. Last weekend, the Financial Times published an investigative report on a plan to build, out of the ruins of a destroyed Gaza, a Dubai-style dynamic trading and tourism hub; hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would be paid, via crypto tokens, to leave the enclave. READ MORE The plan is the work of a group of Israeli businessmen, with the involvement of the US consultancy company Boston Consulting Group (BCG). This is the organisation that helped establish the highly controversial and secretive Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which the Israeli government has contracted to run aid distribution centres in Gaza. The organisation has been condemned by the UN and humanitarian groups as running cover for the displacement of Palestinians. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says more than 500 starving Palestinians have been killed near its aid distribution sites. The development plan has been presented to the Trump administration for approval, and is clearly inspired by Trump's infamous proposal, announced off-the-cuff during a meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu last February, that the US would 'take over' Gaza and redevelop it into a 'riviera of the Middle East'. [ 'We'll own it': Trump's shocking plan to take over Gaza and displace two million Palestinians Opens in new window ] One notable aspect of the report is that the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), a neoliberal think tank founded by the former UK prime minister with funding from both the US State Department and the Saudi Arabian government, participated in meetings about the plan. (The FT reporters approached the Tony Blair Institute for comment, and were initially told the group had no involvement whatsoever in the preparation of the plan; when the reporters presented evidence that TBI staff were involved in discussions, a spokesperson said they were 'essentially in listening mode'.) As a name, The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change – to give the think tank its full, inglorious title – has the feel of an overly broad satirical gesture. It's impossible to think of Blair, that is, without remembering the global change he instituted in fronting the invasion of Iraq, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and ushering in an era of regional chaos whose consequences are still playing out. Two TBI staff members reportedly participated in message groups and business calls on the project. 'One lengthy document on postwar Gaza, written by a TBI staff member, was shared within the group for consideration,' write the FT reporters. 'This included the idea of a 'Gaza Riviera' with artificial islands off the coast akin to those in Dubai, blockchain-based trade initiatives, a deep water port ... and low-tax 'special economic zones'.' The destruction of Gaza created, as the TBI document's authors put it, 'a once in a century opportunity to rebuild Gaza from first principles … as a secure, modern, prosperous society.' The pitch deck laying out the plan contained such developments as 'The Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone', in what is now Beit Hanoun in the north of Gaza; a highway encircling the strip named 'The MBS Ring'; something called 'The American Data Safe Haven', in what is now Rafah, and 'the Gaza Trump Riviera & Islands', described as 'world class resorts along the coastline and on small artificial islands similar to the Palm Islands in Dubai'. The slides are bedecked with the logos of corporations such as Tesla, Amazon Web Services, Ikea, and the IHG hotel group – companies the developers hope will be attracted to the new, ethnically cleansed and business-friendly Gaza, though there is no indication that the companies had any awareness of the project. The plan, the developers project, would 'increase the value of Gaza to [around] $324bn from $0 today.' Out of all this emerges the form of a barbarous future, uncannily aligned with the blood-soaked history of Europe and its colonies. Its association with a former British prime minister is almost too on the nose. (The fact that that former PM is Blair, a man whose energy has somehow become even more ghoulish since he left electoral politics, feels entirely appropriate.) What we are seeing here cannot even properly be called neocolonialism, so naked is the exploitation, so grim the equation of stolen land and private wealth. It is really just good old fashioned original-style colonialism. 'There is no document of civilisation,' as Walter Benjamin famously put it, 'that is not at the same time a document of barbarism.' (Benjamin, a German Jew, wrote these words in Vichy France as he himself was fleeing a genocide; they were among the last he ever wrote.) He was referring primarily to those cultural artefacts whose creation and ownership is so often inextricable from violence and oppression – the Pyramids of Giza, the Colosseum of Rome, the entire contents and institutional history of the British Museum. It's tempting to say that these documents imagining the future of Gaza – the AI video posted to Trump's social media, and the pitch for lucrative development of the enclave – are not documents of civilisation at all, but of barbarism alone. But it's the duality that is precisely the point. A document of barbarism is also a document of civilisation. It seems unlikely that the Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone or the Gaza Trump Riviera and Islands will ever come to exist. Their construction would, in any case, surely necessitate an intensification of what is already a genocidal campaign against the Palestinian population. But the plan of which they are a part is itself a vital record of the endurance of the colonial imagination: a document of civilisation, written in blood.
The Age
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Israel's plan for ‘humanitarian city' on ruins of Rafah paves way for Trump's ‘Gaza Riviera'
It is difficult to know with any certainty what such an unprecedented undertaking would look like in practice. One analyst said Katz had, in effect, just ordered the construction of the largest tented area in the world. Loading However, clues can arguably be found in the ongoing initiative to feed civilians via a US backed firm, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), not least because some of its purpose-built distribution sites are in and around Rafah. According to eyewitness reports and some videos that have emerged, civilians are forced to walk for miles through a militarised wasteland where nearly all the buildings have been destroyed by the bombs or bulldozers of the IDF. They are typically corralled between large man-made berms of earth or high metal fences fringed with barbed wire while they wait for ID checks. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in mass-shootings near the sites, with Palestinians accusing Israeli troops. The IDF blames Hamas for deliberately sowing chaos. Katz's comments have prompted alarm not only because of the added suffering it could inflict on ordinary Gazans, but because, some fear, the plan will be used to facilitate the forced displacement of the population. In other words, the highly controversial vision for Gaza as announced by US President Donald Trump early this year. According to the president's so-called Middle East 'Riviera' idea, the population would be moved to redevelop the Strip into a rich man's paradise resembling Las Vegas or Dubai. In more recent months, particularly as he visited Arab leaders in the Gulf, Trump had gone noticeably quiet on this topic. This led commentators to conclude that he had never meant it seriously, but instead used the provocative idea to force the Middle East into coming up with its own plan for post-war Gaza. Loading However, during Netanyahu's visit to the White House this week, the spectre of a 'Trump Gaza' has, arguably, re-emerged. One Israeli official in Washington was reported as saying that Trump was still keen on the idea, although the president dodged the question at a press conference. Netanyahu himself praised the president's 'brilliant vision' and said Israel was close to agreements with third countries to receive Gazan civilians. The prime minister was clear, as he has been since February, to frame the idea as a one of voluntary relocation. 'If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave,' he told reporters, fresh from having handed Trump a letter nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. 'It shouldn't be a prison,' Netanyahu continued. 'It should be an open place, and give people a free choice.' Human rights organisations say life is now so grim for Gazans civilians that, if even a half-safe third country was prepared to take them, they would have to agree to go. In other words, in practical terms, there would be nothing voluntary about it. Loading That is the main reason why Katz's plan for a so-called humanitarian city has caused such a stir. Often the most bellicose in Netanyahu's Right-wing cabinet when it comes to the subject of Palestinians, he has consistently been the biggest cheerleader for the idea of relocation, other than the ultranationalist coalition partners. He has previously ordered officials to prepare a mechanism to allow Gazans to resettle elsewhere. It is no coincidence that the subject of population transfer has re-emerged as formal talks continue with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal. It does Israel no harm to posit an extreme scenario for what might happen to the enclave if Hamas does not play ball. Although Katz spoke of forcing civilians to the south in the context of a 60-day ceasefire deal, Hamas will have several potent reasons to reject the proposal. The terror group thrives when surrounded by ordinary civilians – it is their preferred means of fighting. The Katz proposal would also cut them off entirely from incoming aid, emptying their already drained coffers and allowing the IDF to effectively starve them out over months. The humanitarian city would be run by international organisations, Katz said, but did not specify which ones. Finally, their self-styled status as the Palestinian people's legitimate arm of resistance risks being trashed if they consented to rendering the entire population refugees within their own land, let alone – potentially – outside it. However, some analysts believe that Hamas, ground down by the relentless IDF assault, is gasping for a ceasefire and may show some flexibility on these points. An official close to the talks in Qatar said that while agreement had not yet been reached, the 'gaps are small'. If the multiple recent leaks from Israel's security cabinet in the last couple of weeks are to be relied on, the army's leadership is extremely sceptical of any plan that involves their long-term presence in Gaza as a governing power. The Israeli chief of staff, Major-General Eyal Zamir, is said to have told ministers that his troops have gone as far as they can go without putting the remaining hostages – 20 are thought to be alive – at grave risk. It would take three brigades at least to secure Katz's proposed 'humanitarian city'. To whatever extent Hamas has been causing unrest at the aid distribution sites, Israeli troops have a tendency to react aggressively when Palestinians come close. Having to police the entire population in a relatively small area raises the risk of further mass shootings and international outrage. Loading Despite the potential for a deal in the coming days, or further down the line, it is clear that for the ultranationalists in Netanyahu's government, and indeed others on the Right, population transfer in Gaza is not just a bargaining chip, but a goal. Senior Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir are enthusiastically behind it – and can bring down Netanyahu's coalition if they choose. On Monday, it was reported that a $US2 billion ($3.1 billion) plan to create 'humanitarian transit areas' inside – and possibly outside Gaza – were already presented to the White House, possibly months ago.
Sydney Morning Herald
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Israel's plan for ‘humanitarian city' on ruins of Rafah paves way for Trump's ‘Gaza Riviera'
It is difficult to know with any certainty what such an unprecedented undertaking would look like in practice. One analyst said Katz had, in effect, just ordered the construction of the largest tented area in the world. Loading However, clues can arguably be found in the ongoing initiative to feed civilians via a US backed firm, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), not least because some of its purpose-built distribution sites are in and around Rafah. According to eyewitness reports and some videos that have emerged, civilians are forced to walk for miles through a militarised wasteland where nearly all the buildings have been destroyed by the bombs or bulldozers of the IDF. They are typically corralled between large man-made berms of earth or high metal fences fringed with barbed wire while they wait for ID checks. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in mass-shootings near the sites, with Palestinians accusing Israeli troops. The IDF blames Hamas for deliberately sowing chaos. Katz's comments have prompted alarm not only because of the added suffering it could inflict on ordinary Gazans, but because, some fear, the plan will be used to facilitate the forced displacement of the population. In other words, the highly controversial vision for Gaza as announced by US President Donald Trump early this year. According to the president's so-called Middle East 'Riviera' idea, the population would be moved to redevelop the Strip into a rich man's paradise resembling Las Vegas or Dubai. In more recent months, particularly as he visited Arab leaders in the Gulf, Trump had gone noticeably quiet on this topic. This led commentators to conclude that he had never meant it seriously, but instead used the provocative idea to force the Middle East into coming up with its own plan for post-war Gaza. Loading However, during Netanyahu's visit to the White House this week, the spectre of a 'Trump Gaza' has, arguably, re-emerged. One Israeli official in Washington was reported as saying that Trump was still keen on the idea, although the president dodged the question at a press conference. Netanyahu himself praised the president's 'brilliant vision' and said Israel was close to agreements with third countries to receive Gazan civilians. The prime minister was clear, as he has been since February, to frame the idea as a one of voluntary relocation. 'If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave,' he told reporters, fresh from having handed Trump a letter nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. 'It shouldn't be a prison,' Netanyahu continued. 'It should be an open place, and give people a free choice.' Human rights organisations say life is now so grim for Gazans civilians that, if even a half-safe third country was prepared to take them, they would have to agree to go. In other words, in practical terms, there would be nothing voluntary about it. Loading That is the main reason why Katz's plan for a so-called humanitarian city has caused such a stir. Often the most bellicose in Netanyahu's Right-wing cabinet when it comes to the subject of Palestinians, he has consistently been the biggest cheerleader for the idea of relocation, other than the ultranationalist coalition partners. He has previously ordered officials to prepare a mechanism to allow Gazans to resettle elsewhere. It is no coincidence that the subject of population transfer has re-emerged as formal talks continue with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal. It does Israel no harm to posit an extreme scenario for what might happen to the enclave if Hamas does not play ball. Although Katz spoke of forcing civilians to the south in the context of a 60-day ceasefire deal, Hamas will have several potent reasons to reject the proposal. The terror group thrives when surrounded by ordinary civilians – it is their preferred means of fighting. The Katz proposal would also cut them off entirely from incoming aid, emptying their already drained coffers and allowing the IDF to effectively starve them out over months. The humanitarian city would be run by international organisations, Katz said, but did not specify which ones. Finally, their self-styled status as the Palestinian people's legitimate arm of resistance risks being trashed if they consented to rendering the entire population refugees within their own land, let alone – potentially – outside it. However, some analysts believe that Hamas, ground down by the relentless IDF assault, is gasping for a ceasefire and may show some flexibility on these points. An official close to the talks in Qatar said that while agreement had not yet been reached, the 'gaps are small'. If the multiple recent leaks from Israel's security cabinet in the last couple of weeks are to be relied on, the army's leadership is extremely sceptical of any plan that involves their long-term presence in Gaza as a governing power. The Israeli chief of staff, Major-General Eyal Zamir, is said to have told ministers that his troops have gone as far as they can go without putting the remaining hostages – 20 are thought to be alive – at grave risk. It would take three brigades at least to secure Katz's proposed 'humanitarian city'. To whatever extent Hamas has been causing unrest at the aid distribution sites, Israeli troops have a tendency to react aggressively when Palestinians come close. Having to police the entire population in a relatively small area raises the risk of further mass shootings and international outrage. Loading Despite the potential for a deal in the coming days, or further down the line, it is clear that for the ultranationalists in Netanyahu's government, and indeed others on the Right, population transfer in Gaza is not just a bargaining chip, but a goal. Senior Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir are enthusiastically behind it – and can bring down Netanyahu's coalition if they choose. On Monday, it was reported that a $US2 billion ($3.1 billion) plan to create 'humanitarian transit areas' inside – and possibly outside Gaza – were already presented to the White House, possibly months ago.
ITV News
16-06-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
Obama's White House photographer Pete Souza says Trump pictures look like a 'reality show'
If you don't know Pete Souza, you'd probably recognise his work. For eight years, he was Barack Obama's chief White House photographer, capturing everything from historic meetings with world leaders to intimate moments between the president and his family. He was given unprecedented access behind the scenes. President Trump. 'The photographs from the current administration look like they're from the set of a reality TV show," he told the ITV News podcast Talking Politics. 'You don't get any real sense of Trump's actual humanity, how he relates to people. It's all 'let's bring the press corps in for an entire meeting' and he's just playing to the cameras. 'There's not a single picture of Trump meeting with his national security team in the Situation Room. There's not a single picture of him on the phone with Vladimir Putin, who we are essentially at war against in Ukraine. "Why is that? Are these photographs not being taken, or is the White House just refusing to post them?' Mr Souza, who built up an Instagram following of millions by posting photographs from the Obama years as a way of criticising the actions of President Trump during his first term, says this content gap matters for history. 'All of the photographs that I took during the Reagan and Obama administrations, every single photograph is now at the National Archives, the purpose of which is there is a visual record of history of those administrations,' he said. 'So I worry that we're not going to have that kind of record with the Trump administration.' One significant departure from the traditional photography used in previous administrations has been the Trump team's use of AI imagery. Since he took office, the White House account has posted pictures of him as a Star Wars Jedi and the Pope, while the president shared a viral 'Trump Gaza' AI video. For Mr Souza, such moves damage trust. 'To me, if you're going to do that, then you've lost all credibility in what you're posting. Once you post fake images - AI or photoshopped images - then I think you've lost all credibility and I would not lend credence or feel that any photograph that the Trump administration posts is real, because if they've done it before they can do it again.' According to Mr Souza, there has only been one 'real' image of Mr Trump's presidency so far. That was of him deep in conversation with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inside St Peter's Basilica, shortly before the funeral of Pope Francis. It's thought the photo was taken by a member of Mr Zelenskyy's team. 'I thought it was great that this person, whoever he or she is, was smart enough to make an iPhone picture of that scene because it was remarkable,' said Mr Souza. 'Those are the kind of images we're missing from this administration. I hope that more of them exist. 'If there is more of that, then we don't see it. Why is that? I don't know.' During the eight years of the Obama presidency, Mr Souza took nearly two million photos - whether it was a tense scene, a deeply personal moment or one of pure joy. For him, there were no strict rules on how to behave around the president - just 'common sense'. 'I'll give you an example,' he told Talking Politics USA. 'I was very cognisant that he had two young girls in the White House. My job was to document him as a dad and as a husband. 'I have this one picture of him out on a swing set with his older daughter, Malia. I went outside with him as he sat on the swing set and was having a private conversation with Malia about her day at school. 'It was a nice picture and I made several frames of that. But then I backed away. I didn't need to be lurking the entire time; I wanted to give him some privacy. 'He didn't ask me to back away, it just seemed like it was the right thing to do.' Mr Souza says he and the former president are still in touch and meet up 'maybe a couple of times a year'. 'We don't talk politics at all,' he said. 'We talk about our families.' When asked if Obama has a favourite photo from his presidency, Mr Souza said: 'I think his favourites are the ones with his girls, no question." 'He did like the Spiderman photo of the little kid zapping him into a spider's web just outside the Oval Office. I remember when we hung that on the walls of the West Wing and he said that was his favourite photograph - until we put one up of him with his daughters. Those were always his favourites.' From Westminster to Washington DC - our political experts are across all the latest key talking points. Listen to the latest episode below...
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First Post
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- First Post
Trump says Gaza should be 'taken' by US and turned into a 'freedom zone'
This is not the first time Trump has made territorial claims on Gaza. Earlier this year, the Republican leader suggested that he could 'own' Gaza and resettle its population, a plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on board with at the time read more US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that his country wants to 'take' Gaza and 'turn it into a freedom zone', as the war continues to rage in the Palestinian territory. The US president made the comments during his visit to Qatar, where he said, 'I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good, make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone. I'd be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This is not the first time Trump has made territorial claims on Gaza. Earlier this year, the Republican leader suggested that he could 'own' Gaza and resettle its population, a plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on board with at the time. More from World How much will it cost to convert Trump's luxury jet gift from Qatar to Air Force One? The US president even went to the extent of sharing an AI-generated video where he created a utopian world for Gaza, calling it 'Trump Gaza' . The video showed beaches, giant golden statues of Trump, and malls selling golden miniatures of Trump, amid dancers performing with Trump. The video starts with a view of Gaza devastated in the Israel-Hamas War, and then shows skyscrapers. In the background, a rap song plays: 'Donald Trump will set you free, bringing the life for all to see, no more tunnels, no more fears, Trump Gaza is finally here. Trump Gaza shines bright, golden future and a brand new light, feast and dance when the deal is done, Trump Gaza number one.' The video also featured Elon Musk and Netanyahu enjoying food and the beach with Trump. This was just posted on President Trump's Truth Social account. — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 26, 2025 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, on the war front, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes and artillery shelling on Thursday killed at least 50 people in the war-battered Palestinian territory. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said at least 13 people were 'recovered from rubble' after a dawn strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, while another 35 were killed in 12 separate strikes across the Gaza Strip. Bassal added that in southern Gaza, one woman was killed in artillery shelling, and one man by gunfire. The Israeli government approved plans to expand the offensive earlier this month, and spoke of the 'conquest' of Gaza. Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's October 2023 attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34, the military says, are dead. With inputs from agencies
