5 observations from the ground in Gaza by a former British Army officer

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Friday, August 01, 2025

3. Trump's plan to make Gaza the Riviera of the Middle East is 'crazy'

Fox also weighed in on President Donald Trump's call to make Gaza a "Riviera of the Middle East." Fox condemned the proposal as a "crazy Trump plan route where you start ethnically cleansing the place."

After podcast co-host Konstantin Kisin summarized the widely understood definition of ethnic cleansing as "people being killed because of their identity," Fox acknowledged that his characterization of Trump's vision as ethnic cleansing amounted to "sloppy vocabulary." Kisin laid out the rationale behind the plan to remove people from Gaza, suggesting that it would solve the problem posed by "a population who absolutely hate Israel who are going to remain there with Hamas."

Kisin contended that if the plan to make Gaza a "Riviera of the Middle East" was implemented, people in Gaza would "have a better life, and Hamas is not going to leech off of them and use them, and Israel is not going to have to keep killing them." He likened the proposal to actions that took place at the end of World War II, where people in Poland were moved out of an area that came under Soviet control and into Germany. 

"The Trump plan effectively sees Gaza being cleared out of Gazans that go somewhere else, allegedly until it's rebuilt, and then they come back," Fox explained. Fox indicated that he had no problem with offering people living in Gaza money to go somewhere else, but objected to the idea of "rounding people onto trucks at gunpoint and forcing them out with bayonets." He suggested that completely emptying Gaza would require resorting to such a "different and dark place."