The foreign policy of an American kleptocracy

President Trump's Middle East policy took a dark turn on Saturday when he announced on Air Force One that he favored the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. "You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing," Trump said.

Trump was not just floating a theoretical policy. His administration is already taking steps to try to remove more Palestinians from the area. Trump said he spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan, a country that has already taken in nearly 2.4 million Palestinian refugees, "to take on more." He indicated he would press Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to take in Palestinians currently living in Gaza in a call on Sunday.

Trump said the relocations might be temporary or "could be long-term." He said he wants to "build housing [for Gazans] in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change."

What are the motivations and origins of Trump's radical new policy? Follow the money.

Trump discussed his vision for Gaza on January 20, his first day in the office, suggesting Gaza could be an ideal site for real estate development. "You know, Gaza is interesting. It's a phenomenal location. On the sea, the best weather, you know, everything's good," Trump said while signing executive orders in the Oval Office. "It's like some beautiful things could be done with it, but it's very interesting. But some fantastic things could be done with Gaza." Trump said that Gaza has "really got to be rebuilt in a different way" and that he "might" be interested in helping.

In an October 7, 2024 interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump expounded on his vision for Gaza as a luxury resort. "It could be better than Monaco. It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything," Trump said. "They never took advantage of it, you know, as a developer. It could be the most beautiful place, the weather, the water, the whole thing, the climate."

Trump's policy of relocating Gazans and redeveloping the country closely matches a vision floated by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, last year. Kushner was Trump's top advisor on Middle East policy during his first administration and, although he does not have a formal White House position now, continues to advise the president. Reuters also reports that Kushner is "very very close" to Trump's White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, and "has been advising Steve Witkoff, a longtime Trump friend and donor, on his new job as special envoy to the Middle East."

After leaving the White House, Kushner raised billions from foreign governments, including $2 billion from Saudi Arabia, to start a private equity fund, Affinity Partners, focused on large real estate developments.

In a February 15, 2024, interview at Harvard's Middle East Initiative, Kushner described Gaza's "waterfront property" as "very valuable." Kushner said Israel should seek to "move people out" and then "clean it up."

Further, Kushner said that the United States should pursue "diplomacy" with Egypt to convince them to accept more Palestinians. He also indicated Jordan should accept Palestinian refugees, noting that Jordan had accepted Syrian refugees. Kushner criticized the "American government" for not pressuring Egypt, Jordan, and other countries more aggressively to facilitate a "solution." (If Egypt and Jordan would not accept Palestinians, Kushner suggested moving Palestinians from Gaza to the Negev desert in southern Israel.)

Professor Tarek Masoud pressed Kushner, saying that Egypt and other countries were hesitant to accept Gazan refugees because they feared "once Gazans leave Gaza, Netanyahu is never going to let them back in." Kushner acknowledged that this was possible but also suggested that was an acceptable outcome. "Maybe, but I'm not sure there's much left of Gaza at this point," Kushner replied. "So if you think about even the construct like Gaza, Gaza was not really a historical precedent. It was the result of a war."

Last year, Kushner said his critics were "dishonestly using selected parts of my remarks," and he was only expressing his "dismay that the Palestinian people have watched their leaders squander decades of Western aid on tunnels and weapons rather than on improving their lives."

Trump and Kushner's vision for Gaza was quickly embraced by radical factions in Israel. "After 76 years in which most of the population of Gaza was held by force under harsh conditions to maintain the ambition to destroy the State of Israel, the idea of ​​helping them find other places to start a new, good life is a great idea," Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister said on Sunday.

Smotrich has called for the establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza. Trump's comments appear to undermine support for a two-state solution, which has been a bulwark of American policy in the region for decades.

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How Trump and Kushner could profit from the ethnic cleansing of Gaza

If Palestinians are removed from Gaza and the land is absorbed by Israel, both Kushner and Trump could benefit financially from its redevelopment. Earlier this month, Kushner invested a portion of funds he collected from Saudia Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, to develop a new Trump Tower in Belgrade.

The new hotel and residential tower is a partnership between the Trump Organization and Affinity Partners. It is located on a site that was bombed extensively by NATO in 1999 and has since been vacant. The Serbian government owns the property.

The Trump Organization released a new ethics statement on January 1, claiming they would not do business with foreign governments while Trump is in office. Eric Trump, who is running the day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization, told the New York Times that the new Trump Tower Belgrade did not violate a new ethics statement because the property is leased from the Serbian government to a private Serbian development company. The Trump Organization is partnering with that company rather than the government directly.

"[I]t’s going to be fun to bring the family together," Eric Trump said. According to the New York Times, Ric Grennell helped negotiate the deal for Trump Tower Belgrade. In December, Trump named Grennell his "Presidential Envoy for Special Missions," focusing on "some of the hottest spots around the World."

Kushner would also be poised to benefit from the redevelopment of Gaza through his significant investment in an Israeli company, Phoenix Financial. Kushner just doubled Affinity Partners' stake in Phoenix Financial, one of the largest insurance and financial firms in Israel.