Netanyahu Backs Trump’s Gaza Plan, Says Residents Could Return if They ‘Disavow Terrorism’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again spoke in favor of President Donald Trump’s reconstruction and resettlement plan for Gaza. Under the proposed plan, the relocation of the Gaza residents would be temporary, and they should be allowed to return if they “disavow terrorism,” the Israeli prime minister said Saturday.
The sole condition laid down by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reasonable and sound given the use of Gaza as a staging ground for terrorist attacks against Israel for nearly two decades.
According to the Israeli prime minister, Gaza residents could be temporarily relocated to neighboring Arab countries, presumably Egypt and Jordan. At the same time, a U.S.-led construction effort rebuilds the enclave destroyed as a consequence of the 15-month war resulting from Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
“Give them an option to relocate temporarily while we rebuild the place physically and while we also rebuild it in terms of radicalization,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News host Mark Levin.
“You want to come back? You have to disavow terrorism, but you can come back,” he assured.
President Donald Trump is “the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House,” the Israeli prime minister acknowledged during the interview.
Less than three weeks into office, President Trump restored weapons exports to Israel stifled under the outgoing Biden administration. He also slapped sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) for going after members of U.S. and Israeli armed forces, as well as issuing an ‘arrest warrant’ against Prime Minister Netanyahu for overseeing the Israeli military response in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 terror attack.
Fox News reported the Israeli prime minister’s comments:
In an interview with “Life, Liberty & Levin” host Mark Levin that will air on Saturday night, Netanyahu praised Trump’s leadership and his impact on the U.S.-Israel alliance.”I think President Trump is the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House,” Netanyahu said. “He’s not only making a tremendous change in the Israeli-American alliance, strengthening it beyond anything we’ve seen up to now, but also he’s also a great leader for America and the world.”Since returning to office less than a month ago, President Trump has made several high-profile moves affecting Israel and the Middle East. Before his inauguration, Trump issued a stern warning to Hamas, threatening “all hell to pay” if hostages held in Gaza were not released. A deal, brokered with the assistance of the Biden administration, followed shortly after.One of the most notable policy shifts came in late January when Trump lifted a hold on the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. The Biden administration had previously paused the shipment over concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza. Netanyahu described Trump’s decision to lift the pause as “instantaneous.””In the first two weeks, he did everything that he promised to do,” Netanyahu said. “He went against antisemitism, went against the ICC. This corrupt so-called International Court that targets America, targets Israel, targets democracies.” (…)Netanyahu expressed his support for the plan and emphasized Israel’s commitment to working closely with the U.S. on future Middle East policy.”Israel has no better friend than America,” Netanyahu said. “And now, under President Trump’s leadership, America has no greater friend than Israel.””It’s a great beginning and a restart, a recalibration of our great alliance.”
Earlier this week, President Trump angered European and Arab powers by suggesting that the U.S. could undertake the Gaza reconstitution plan, transforming the terrorist-infested enclave and offering its residents the prospect of a better life in nearby Arab states.
“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” the president proposed Tuesday at a news conference with the visiting Israeli leader. He also spoke of the need to “level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out.”
Trump’s proposal was also rejected by globalist institutions like the United Nations and the European Union, who predictably sided with Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist outfits in their condemnation.
On Thursday, President Trump imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Netherlands-based kangaroo court which issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu.
In a White House memo, the Trump administration slammed the Europe-based tribunal for creating a “shameful moral equivalency” between the terror group Hamas and Israel, a country responding to a vicious terrorist attack.
Noting ICC’s previous legal moves aimed at U.S. servicemen, President Trump warned that any measure by the self-appointed world court against the members of the U.S armed forces will be treated as an “extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy.”
Gaza terrorists continue to threaten IDF troops
While Israel observes a ceasefire in Gaza to facilitate the first phase of the hostages-for-terrorists deal, Palestinian terrorists continue to provoke and threaten Israeli ground troops based in the enclave, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement Saturday evening.
“Throughout the weekend, the IDF operated to distance several suspects who approached and posed a threat to IDF troops operating in a number of locations in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military observed.
“Earlier today (Saturday), the IAF (Israeli Air Force) fired to distance suspicious vehicles that were advancing northward from the central Gaza Strip along a non-approved route, without passing through the agreed inspection route, thus violating the agreed framework of the agreement,” the IDF disclosed.
“Additionally, earlier today, IDF troops identified a suspect who was moving toward them in southern Gaza and fired warning shots to distance him. After the suspect continued to approach the troops and posed an imminent threat to them, additional shots were fired in order to remove the threat,” the IDF statement said.
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