CNN - US President Donald Trump posted a video late on Tuesday on his Truth Social account, which appears to have been created with generative artificial intelligence (AI), in which he promotes the transformation of Gaza Strip into a tourist resort similar to a Gulf country, with a golden statue of himself, an Elon Musk eating humus and shirtless American and Israeli leaders relaxing on a beach.
“No more tunnels, no more fear,“ sings a voice to a dance beat. ‘At last, Trump's Gaza has arrived!”
The US president proposed expelling 2.1 million Palestinians from Gaza and transforming the enclave into a ’Riviera” that would be owned by the United States.
The Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, called the proposal a “grave violation of international law”. The Palestinian Autonomous Government's Foreign Minister, Varsen Aghabekian Shaheen, said earlier this month: “We tried displacement before, and it will not happen again,” referring to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced during the Arab-Israeli war that led to the creation of Israel in 1948.
The video begins with barefoot Palestinian children walking through the rubble of Gaza. “What's next?” asks a title. They walk towards a skyline of skyscrapers along the Gaza coast.
“Donald is coming to set you free,” sings a voice. ”Trump's Gaza shines with its own light. Golden future, a new light. Party and dance. The feat is done.”
In the video, incongruously, there are belly dancers wearing beards and bikinis, a child holding a golden balloon in the shape of Trump's head, and Elon Musk dancing on a beach under a shower of US dollars.
It is unclear whether Trump intends to carry out his expulsion plan. After receiving a strong response from Egyptian and Jordanian leaders, Trump told Fox News on Friday: “The way to do it is my plan. I think it's the plan that really works. But I'm not going to force it. I'm just going to sit back and recommend it.”
A CNN telephone and online poll conducted in mid-February revealed that the proposal for Gaza without the right of return for Palestinians was the least popular of the actions or proposals Trump was asked about. Only 13% of Americans who participated in the survey rated it as “good”, while 58% described it as “bad”.
Arab leaders met on Friday for the first time in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, to formulate a response to Trump's plan for the United States to take over Gaza.
At the end of the video posted on Truth Social - “Trump's Gaza, number one!” - the camera focuses on Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having drinks on a beach.
CNN asked the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas to comment on the video and the White House to clarify it.