Polls Show Americans Reject Trump’s Gaza Ethnic Cleansing Proposal | Palestine Policy Roundup 02.18.25
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman in response to Trump’s Gaza ethnic cleansing comments: “This is a policy of ethnic cleansing. Forcing people from their land through violence and denying them the chance to return and rebuild. It is an egregious violation of Palestinian human rights - all so Trump's real estate donors can get even richer.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “47,000+ Palestinians killed. 111,000 injured. Trump’s response? Forcibly expel Palestinians to make Gaza ‘a real estate development for the future. A beautiful piece of land.’ No. Gaza must be rebuilt for the Palestinian people, not billionaire tourists.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez: “A reminder: -Threats of Palestinian displacement are illegal and immoral. -Gaza is not for sale. -The US must honor Palestinian sovereignty. -Israel must adhere to the cease-fire deal. -Hamas must release the remaining hostages. -We must act as though our collective safety and security -Palestinian, Israeli, and American- are interconnected.”
Rep. Summer Lee: “America cannot be allowed to violate international law. Donald Trump’s call to seize Gaza is a call for further war crimes. The entire international community must stand against this.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
🚨 PRESIDENT TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON ETHNIC CLEANSING PROPOSAL, THREATENS CEASEFIRE
Last week, President Donald Trump made clear that he is advocating for the permanent forcible displacement and ethnic cleansing of the more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza and attempted to pressure King Abdullah II of Jordan to facilitate this crime. President Trump also attempted to sabotage the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas by making new demands that were not a part of the deal and threatening to support Israel in restarting its assault on Palestinians in Gaza if those demands were not met.
Let’s be clear: many of the things that President Trump has said over the last few weeks serve as a green light to alleged war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu to continue Israel’s genocide in Gaza. President Trump’s comments are fully in line with well-known plans made by Israeli ministries to forcibly transfer Palestinians out of Gaza that date as far back as the first weeks of Israel’s genocide. Benjamin Netanyahu has also vowed to resume Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, even after the current pause in hostilities.
President Trump is setting the stage for a continuation of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Whether it is US troops that occupy Gaza or the Israeli military that escalates its genocidal carnage against Palestinians, this proposal is a war crime.
💣 IMEU POLICY PROJECT URGES SENATORS TO BLOCK TRUMP WEAPONS PACKAGES TO ISRAEL
Earlier this month, President Trump bypassed committee oversight by proceeding to a formal notification of a $7.41 billion Foreign Military Sales (FMS) deal for Israel, presumably paid for by US taxpayers. Congress must act now to stop this dangerous weapons deal by passing Joint Resolutions of Disapproval.
The package includes $6.75 billion in Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) kits, small diameter bombs, 500-pound bombs, bomb fuzes, and an additional $660 million in Hellfire missiles. The weapons included in this latest package have been used in several apparent war crimes committed by the Israeli military in Gaza.
Israel’s repeated use of JDAMs, small diameter bombs, 500-pound bombs, and Hellfire missiles to commit apparent war crimes in its attacks against Palestinians in Gaza violate US laws, such as the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits any US weapons to a country which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, and the Arms Export Control Act, which limits the use of US weapons to internal security and legitimate self-defense.
Israel’s use of US weapons against Palestinian living under foreign military occupation in Gaza cannot be considered internal and the commission of apparent war crimes is never legitimate. Congress must pass JRDs now to ensure that Israel is held accountable for its previous violations of US law and to ensure that no additional US weapons can be used by Israel to commit additional atrocities against Palestinians, which would make the US further complicit in Israel’s genocidal violence and potential ethnic cleansing.
💡 POLICY ASK: IMEU Policy Project strongly urges Members of Congress to introduce, cosponsor, and vote for JRDs to block $7.41 billion in weapons for Israel.
📖 LEARN MORE: Read IMEU Policy Project’s latest policy memo on the need for these JRDs.
❌ IMEU POLICY PROJECT LEADS CAMPAIGN TO OPPOSE EXTREMIST MIKE HUCKABEE NOMINATION
IMEU Policy Project is leading a coalition of organizations committed to Palestinian rights and freedom to oppose the nomination of extremist Mike Huckabee for Ambassador to Israel, which was officially noticed to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week.
The former Arkansas Governor and Republican presidential candidate has a long record of racist anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim remarks and is deeply committed to the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank in the service of an apocalyptic biblical prophecy. During his 2008 presidential campaign, Huckabee denied the existence of Palestinians, and in a 2015 interview he endorsed the principles behind Trump’s illegal plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land.
Huckabee’s nomination, taken together with other anti-Palestinian nominees, including UN Ambassador Elise Stefanik and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, constitutes a disturbing anti-Palestinian tenor to the Trump administration. Huckabee’s deeply prejudiced views against Palestinians prioritizes forced displacement and Israeli expansionism over American values such as peace, justice, and human dignity, making him unfit to serve.
Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee should oppose Huckabee’s nomination and expose his deeply anti-Palestinian views when he faces his confirmation hearing.
📖 LEARN MORE: Check out the Huck No campaign website to learn more about Huckabee’s extremist views and why he is unfit for the role of ambassador.
IN THE NEWS
📊 POLLS: VOTERS REJECT TRUMP’S ETHNIC CLEANSING PLAN, DEMOCRATS INCREASINGLY SUPPORT PALESTINIAN RIGHTS
A new poll shows that 64% of likely voters oppose Trump’s plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land in Gaza. The poll, conducted by Data for Progress, also shows that Trump’s plan is deeply unpopular with Democratic voters–85% of whom oppose the plan.
Relatedly, an Economist/YouGov poll showed that Democrats are increasingly sympathizing more with Palestinians than Israelis. 35% of Democrats sympathize more with Palestinians–more than 3.5 times as many as those who sympathize more with Israelis (9%).
American voters, and Democratic voters especially, reject the expansionist and extremist MAGA agenda behind this genocidal proposal being pushed by the Trump administration.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
🚚 CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT HOLDS AFTER SPATE OF ISRAELI VIOLATIONS
Last week, a series of Israeli violations of the Gaza ceasefire threatened to derail the latest exchange of Palestinian and Israeli captives; fortunately, the exchange went ahead and the ceasefire is holding despite Israel’s repeated violations of it.
3 more Palestinians–including an elderly woman–were killed in violation of the ceasefire on February 9th in central and southern Gaza. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, the Israeli military has killed more than 110 Palestinians since the ceasefire agreement took effect, nearly 49 of whom were killed in Rafah as of the end of January.
Israeli authorities reportedly have also refused to allow critical aid, such as temporary homes and tents, into Gaza as Palestinians return to their destroyed homes. According to Reuters, witnesses reported that construction materials, tents, and other aid were being obstructed by Israeli authorities at the boundary between Gaza and Egypt. Israel currently controls the Philadelphi corridor, which runs along Gaza’s boundary with Egypt.
More than 90% of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced as a result of Israel’s genocide and nearly 70% of all infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed, according to a UN estimate from December, making these supplies crucial to health and safety in the occupied territory. Israel has since allowed more tents and medical aid into Gaza, but that does not excuse its failures to live up to the ceasefire agreement.
🍼 ISRAELI MILITARY SHOOTS AND KILLS PREGNANT WOMAN AS WEST BANK INVASION EXPANDS
Sundus Jamal Shalabi, a 23-year-old Palestinian woman who was eight months pregnant, was killed by the Israeli military as it expanded its ongoing invasion of the West Bank by raiding the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem. Sundus’ husband was also critically injured in the same attack. Medical personnel were unable to save her unborn child as the Israeli military reportedly obstructed an ambulance from reaching her and later deliberately delayed its arrival to a local hospital.
Sundus Shalabi and her husband were attempting to flee the Nur Shams refugee camp as the Israeli military began its invasion of the area, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The newspaper also reported that Sundus was killed because she was looking at the ground–part of a wider expansion of open-fire orders resulting in more Palestinians being killed by the Israeli army. The Israeli army issued a forced evacuation order for the refugee camp last week after it began a siege of the camp earlier in the week.
This is a part of an ongoing invasion of the West Bank that was launched by the Israeli military only two days after the ceasefire in Gaza took effect. Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened Palestinians in Jenin and Tulkarem with the same level of destruction as seen in Gaza–echoing earlier comments by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz that the Israeli military is using the same genocidal playbook there that it used in Gaza. 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced by this invasion according to UNRWA.
🩺 ABDUCTED KAMAL ADWAN HOSPITAL DIRECTOR ALLEGES TORTURE, ABUSE IN ISRAELI CUSTODY
47 days after he was abducted from Gaza following the Israeli military’s invasion of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya met with his lawyer for the first time. Dr. Abu Safiya, who is being held in Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank, reported that he was tortured and subjected to “being forcibly stripped, having his hands tightly shackled, and being made to sit on sharp gravel” by Israeli soldiers at the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp. Israeli whistleblowers and Palestinians alike have detailed horrifying allegations of torture and abuse at the hands of Israeli authorities there.
After being transferred to Ofer Prison, Dr. Abu Safiya was reportedly held in solitary confinement for 25 days and subjected to continuous interrogation for 10 days. Israeli authorities reportedly systematically denied him medical attention for an enlarged heart muscle and may have starved him.
These allegations align closely with a report published by Human Rights Watch that revealed Israel’s systematic detention, abuse, and torture of medical workers abducted from Gaza. They also reflect the findings revealed in a report published by the Israeli NGO B’Tselem, which described Israeli detention centers as a network of torture camps for Palestinians.
Even as Palestinian captives are now being released as part of the ceasefire agreement, many are showing signs of torture and starvation. Palestinians released as part of the deal reportedly are severely beaten and threatened if their families or communities celebrate their release.
Dr. Hossam Abu Saifya has now been held without charge for over 50 days. His detention, and the detention of other medical workers, is a clear attack by the Israeli military against the medical infrastructure of Gaza as Palestinians continue to grapple with injuries and disease caused by Israel’s genocide.
Photo: Anas-Mohammed, Editorial Use Only (Stock Photo ID: 2425794051), via Shutterstock.