Top Trump administration officials on Wednesday walked back elements of President Trump’s proposal to “take over” Gaza and drive out the Palestinian population, insisting that he had not committed to using U.S. troops to clear the territory and that any relocation of Palestinians would be temporary.
Mr. Trump’s brazen proposal to move as many as two million Palestinians out of Gaza and seize and redevelop it as a U.S. territory met with immediate opposition on Wednesday from key American partners and officials around the world, with many expressing support for a Palestinian state, and experts calling the idea a breach of international law. Less than 24 hours after Mr. Trump floated the plan, top administration officials sought to soften it.
Speaking to reporters in Guatemala, Secretary of State Marco Rubio twice suggested that Mr. Trump was only proposing to clear out and rebuild Gaza, not claim indefinite possession of the territory. Steve Witkoff, the special envoy to the Middle East, told Republican senators at a closed-door luncheon that Mr. Trump “doesn’t want to put any U.S. troops on the ground, and he doesn’t want to spend any U.S. dollars at all” on Gaza, according to Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri.
This is a gift link to the live feed.
Y’all recognize headlines like this are coming at a rapid pace on purpose, right? Trump says or does an outrageous thing that dominates the news cycle for a few days, he walks it back, and the media pays little attention to the actual things his administration is doing that are not being walked back. “Flood the zone” is a purposeful strategy.
It might work on domestic idiots but middle east will not forget this that easily. That’s how you get towers 2.0 and it’s crazy to think that current US admin might actually want that.
Except we have to pay attention. We can’t ignore it