Trump's Gaza plan shocks the world but finds support in Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plan to seek U.S. ownership of the Gaza Strip and move out its population infuriated the Arab world. It stunned American allies and other global powers and even flummoxed members of Trump’s own party. The reaction in Israel was starkly different.

The idea of removing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza — once relegated to the fringes of political discourse in the country — has found fertile ground in an Israeli public traumatized by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and grasping for ways to feel secure again after the deadliest assault in their country’s history.

Jewish Israeli politicians across the spectrum either embraced the idea wholeheartedly or expressed openness to it. Newspaper columns praised its audacity and TV commentators debated how the idea could practically be set in motion. The country’s defense minister ordered the military to plan for its eventual implementation.

Whether or not the plan becomes reality — it is saddled with obstacles, not to mention moral, legal and practical implications — its mere pronouncement by the world's most powerful leader has sparked enthusiasm about an idea once considered to be beyond the pale in the Israeli mainstream.

“The fact that it has been laid on the table,” said Israeli historian Tom Segev, “opens the door for such a clear crime to become legitimate.”

To be sure, many of those who expressed openness to the plan said it seemed unfeasible for a multitude of legal and logistical reasons. And they say the departures should be voluntary, perhaps an acknowledgment of claims by critics, among them the U.N. secretary-general, that forced expulsions could amount to “ethnic cleansing.”

And many others, including liberal Israelis and Palestinian citizens of Israel, voiced opposition to it. The liberal daily Haaretz, in an editorial Thursday, urged Israelis to “oppose transfer."

“Even if Trump disregards international law, it’s crucial to remind Israelis that the forced expulsion or transfer of civilians violates international humanitarian law, constitutes a war crime and amounts to a crime against humanity,” the editorial said.

In a joint Washington news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump said he envisioned the U.S. taking control of the Gaza Strip, having its people relocate to other places and rebuilding the war-battered coastal enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

The proposal sparked outrage in the Middle East, including in Egypt and Jordan, two close U.S. allies at peace with Israel that Trump has suggested take in the Palestinians.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, called Trump’s plan “remarkable” and the “first good idea” that he had heard.

“The actual idea of allowing first Gazans who want to leave, to leave. I mean, what’s wrong with that?” Netanyahu told Fox News. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz took it a step further, asking the military to craft a plan for a potential exodus. Katz has given few details on how such a plan would work.

Even Netanyahu's rivals indicated openness.

Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and centrist opposition figure, said Trump’s proposal showed “creative, original and intriguing thinking.” Opposition leader Yair Lapid, also a centrist, told Israeli Army Radio “in general, it’s good.” Both said the details and practicability of the plan were complicated and needed to be studied, and they urged Trump and Netanyahu to focus on freeing the hostages who remain in Gaza.

For Palestinians, Trump's proclamation triggered painful memories of the expulsion or flight from their homes in what is now Israel in the 1948 war that led to its creation. It also resurfaced the trauma of further displacement wrought by the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Staying steadfast on their land is a key component of the Palestinian identity. In fact, many Palestinian refugees dream of returning to the lands in Israel from which they were originally displaced — something Israel says would threaten its existence as a Jewish majority state.

Segev says the concept of driving people off their land is not foreign to the Israeli consciousness. He says Israel's founding leaders felt they needed to clear Palestinians off the land to ensure the security and stability of the state.

But in modern Israel, the idea has been promoted only by fringe elements, most prominently the slain radical Rabbi Meir Kahane. The American-born Kahane's views got him banished from the Israeli parliament and led the U.S. to outlaw his group, the Jewish Defense League.

Now, however, Kahane's once radical positions are the mainstay of far-right political parties, including one led by a disciple of his, that have been key to Netanyahu’s rule. They were thrilled to have someone as powerful as Trump adopt their idea, which they have billed as “voluntary emigration,” a term the Palestinians say is a euphemism for forced transfer. Trump’s backing will likely embolden these hard-liners.

When Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, Israelis were already in a yearslong shift away from support for Palestinian statehood and many had adopted an approach, promoted by Netanyahu, that the conflict was unsolvable and could only be managed through sporadic wars and military operations.

The shock of Hamas’ attack — militants killed 1,200 and took about 250 hostages, parading some through Gaza to cheering crowds — brought the Palestinian issue back to the fore and prompted in Israelis an openness to more radical ideas as long as they help restore a sense of security.

Sefi Ovadia, a broadcaster on a popular Israeli talk radio morning show, told his audience Thursday that he had “moral reservations” to the idea before Oct. 7, but that since the attack, he no longer does. Ben Caspit, a widely read columnist, wrote in the Maariv daily that “every Israeli, barring the most delusional ones on the outer reaches of the left, ought to welcome this initiative.”

Trauma from Hamas' attack has prompted many Israelis to believe that a way to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is to “remove Gaza from the equation," said Shmuel Rosner, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.

“It was a fringe idea in Israel before Oct. 7 and in some cases it was an illegitimate idea,” Rosner said of Trump's plan. “Oct. 7 changed everything."

This story has been edited to clarify that many Israelis who expressed openness to the plan say any departures should be voluntary.

A young Palestinian kid carries water along the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Hamas militants deploy and take up positions ahead of Israeli Ofer Kalderon's release, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, as he is being handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday Feb. 1, 2025. Photo/Abdel Kareem)

Mohammad Naser, sits by a fire as he takes cover from the rain under the destruction of his house caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians walk on a road in central Gaza to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A view of the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Social Security Administration faced questions Tuesday at his confirmation hearing about efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency to close field offices and cut back on phone service at the beleaguered agency.

Frank Bisignano, a self-professed “DOGE person,” was called to account for recent upheaval at the Social Security Administration, which provides benefits to roughly 72.5 million people, including retirees and children. The agency has taken center stage in the debate over the usefulness of DOGE cuts to taxpayer services and their effect on Social Security, the social welfare program long regarded as the third rail of national politics — touch it and you get shocked.

During the 2 1/2-hour hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts illustrated a scenario of a person with limited internet access and mobility issues being turned away from an understaffed Social Security office hours away from home. She ended with a question for Bisignano: “Isn’t that a benefit cut?”

Bisignano responded, “I have no intent to have anything like that happen under my watch.”

Bisignano, a Wall Street veteran and one-time defender of corporate policies to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination, has served as chairman of Fiserv, a payments and financial services tech firm since 2020. He told CNBC in February that he is “fundamentally a DOGE person” but “the objective isn’t to touch benefits.”

The hearing follows a series of announcements of mass federal worker layoffs, cuts to programs, office closures and a planned cut to nationwide Social Security phone services.

Asked during the hearing whether Social Security should be privatized, Bisignano responded: “I’ve never heard a word of it, and I’ve never thought about it.”

Republicans were largely in favor of Bisignano's nomination. “If confirmed, you will be responsible for leading an agency with a critical mission, and numerous operational and customer service challenges,” said Senate Finance Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. “Based on your background, I am confident you are up to the task.”

The chaos at the Social Security Administration began shortly after acting commissioner Michelle King stepped down in February, a move that came after DOGE, run by Trump adviser Elon Musk, sought access to Social Security recipient information.

Later that month, the agency announced plans to cut 7,000 people from the agency payroll through layoffs, employee reassignments and an offer of voluntary separation agreements, as part of an intensified effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce through DOGE.

Most recently, the agency's acting commissioner, DOGE supporter Leland Dudek, announced a plan to require in-person identity checks for millions of new and existing recipients while simultaneously closing government offices. That sparked a furor among lawmakers, advocacy groups and program recipients who are worried that the government is placing unnecessary barriers in front of an already vulnerable population.

Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said Tuesday's hearing “showed that Frank Bisignano is not the cure to the DOGE-manufactured chaos at the Social Security Administration. In fact, he is part of it and, if confirmed, would make it even worse.”

The upheaval has made its way to the courts. A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked DOGE from Social Security systems that hold personal data on millions of Americans, calling the group's work there a “fishing expedition.” The order also requires the team to delete any personally identifiable data in its possession.

The Social Security program faces a looming bankruptcy date if it is not addressed by Congress. The May 2024 trustees’ report states that Social Security’s trust funds will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035. Then, Social Security would only be able to pay 83% of benefits, absent changes.

Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota declined at the hearing to ask Bisignano any questions.

“This is a travesty," she said. "This is a wholesale effort to dismantle Social Security from the inside out.”

A sign outside the U.S. Social Security Administration advertises its online services in downtown Welch, W.Va., Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

Mary Weaver reflects on changes to the Social Security Administration while visiting the McDowell County Commission on Aging Senior Center in Welch, W.Va., Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

FILE - Frank Bisignano, right, then Chairman and CEO of First Data, smiles after the company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange, Oct. 15, 2015. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Demonstrators gather outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States District Courthouse in Baltimore, on Friday, March 14, 2025, before a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's access to Social Security data. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)