Donald Trump is keeping his promise to be a 'protector' of Israel

Donald Trump spent the 2024 presidential campaign promising to be a "big protector" of Israel if elected to the White House. In the first days of his presidency, he reaffirmed that stance — likely to the detriment of Palestinians.

During a flight on Air Force One at the end of his first week back, Trump told reporters his preference would be to "just clean out" Palestinians from Gaza, said The Associated Press. "I'd like Egypt to take people, and I'd like Jordan to take people," Trump added. A resettlement of refugees away from their homes "could be temporary or long term," he said. But Palestinian leaders rejected Trump's suggestion as amounting to ethnic cleansing, said The Guardian. Palestinians "are committed to remaining in their homeland," said Mustafa Barghouti, a senior Palestinian politician.

Trump during his first week in office also ordered the Pentagon to restart the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, said Bloomberg. The Biden administration had paused those deliveries as a "serious sign of displeasure" with Palestinian civilian casualties caused by Israel in its war with Hamas. Trump's decision earned public applause from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a social media post, he thanked Trump "for keeping your promise to give Israel the tools it needs to defend itself."

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'Pro-Israel bona fides'

"Trump hasn't laid out a clear vision for Gaza," Nicole Narea said at Vox last year. But his first-term record was pretty clear: He recognized Israel's "controversial annexation" of the Golan Heights and — after years of pledges from American politicians — also recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Those acts may have hurt America's ability to push Israeli-Palestinian negotiations forward. Trump sees those acts as "proof of his pro-Israel bona fides," Narea said.

Trump, a former real estate developer, sometimes seems to view Gaza as a development opportunity. Gaza could be like Monaco "if it was rebuilt the right way," he said on Hugh Hewitt's radio show during his presidential campaign. He admires Gaza's coastal setting. "You know, as a developer, it could be the most beautiful place — the weather, the water, the whole thing, the climate," Trump said, but added that Palestinians "never took advantage of it."

'Trump's Israel support comes with strings attached'

Trump's vision of a Monaco-informed Gaza "has gained little traction," John T. Bennett said at Roll Call. It amounts to a plan to "ethnically cleanse millions of Palestinians from their land" and to do so "for the sake of beachfront property is either genocidal or delusional — or both," said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Trump, Bennett said, "did not mention the Gazan population" in his musings.

Trump's support for Israel "comes with strings attached," said The Jerusalem Post. While the president is backing Netanyahu in public, behind the scenes he pressed Israeli leadership to make a deal with Hamas for a hostage exchange and a ceasefire. Israel and the United States may be allies, but they're also separate states with sometimes-diverging interests. The partnership between the two "does not mean the Trump administration is in lockstep with Netanyahu and his government," the Post added.