President Donald Trump vowed to turn Gaza into “the riviera of the Middle East” on Tuesday, less than a year after his son-in-law Jared Kushner said Gaza’s “waterfront property could be very valuable.”
During a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump suggested that the United States could take over Gaza and develop it following the ethnic cleansing of native Palestinians.
“I do see a long-term ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East and maybe the entire Middle East,” he said. “This was not a decision made lightly. Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent in a really magnificent area that nobody would know. Nobody could look because all they see is death and destruction and rubble and demolished buildings falling all over, it’s just a terrible sight.”
He declared, “If the United States can help to bring stability and peace in the Middle East, we’ll do that.”
“We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal, and I don’t wanna be cute, I don’t wanna be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle East,” Trump concluded. “This could be so magnificent.”
Less than a
“Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable,” he said at the time. “It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel’s perspective I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up.”
An unnamed source told Puck News senior political correspondent Tara Palmeri that “Trump’s idea for the US to take over Gaza was first conceived by Jared Kushner.”
Kushner was reportedly involved in writing Trump’s remarks for the press conference on Tuesday.
Watch above via CNN.