President Donald Trump’s surprising proposal that the United States should take over Gaza and rebuild it has raised many questions.
But what cannot be questioned is the horror of Gaza’s current condition after 16 months of war, triggered by Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023. And also beyond question is the axiom, as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
“President Trump is an outside-of-the-box thinker and a visionary leader, who solves problems that many others, especially in this city, claim are unsolvable.”
Spokesperson Leavitt said President Trump’s proposal about Gaza was made “with a humanitarian heart.”
At a press briefing with National Security Advisor Michael Walz, Special Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, who recently returned from a trip to Gaza, described the devastation he saw there:
“There’s 30,000 unexploded munitions. It is the buildings that could tip over at any moment. There’s no utilities there whatsoever. No working water, electric, gas, nothing. God knows what kind of disease might be festering there. So, when the president talks about cleaning it out, he talks about making it habitable.”
Special Envoy Witkoff emphasized that the President’s is a long-range plan:
“And the President is intent on getting it all done correctly. So to me, it is unfair to have explained to Palestinians that they might be back in five years. That’s just preposterous. ... And so what we are trying to do is be transparent to these people.”
The crucial issue to be solved, said Special Envoy Witkoff, is where the Palestinian people will go as Gaza is rebuilt. National Security Advisor Walz said the United States is engaging with its allies in the region and looking to them for assistance:
“We have to collectively solve this problem. Everyone’s heart breaks for this war that Hamas started. ... But now we have to collectively come up with some [solutions to the] problems. And I think the president has taken a very commonsense approach.”
“We've had the same people pushing the same solutions to this problem for decades,” said White House Press Secretary Leavitt, “and it's been made very clear to the president that the United States needs to be involved in this rebuilding effort to ensure stability in the region for all people.”
