I
n a brazen display of allegiance, Donald Trump boasted to the Israeli-American Council that he was "the best friend Israel ever had" during his first term as president. This sentiment was echoed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who hailed Trump as "the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House". Since returning to office, Trump has doubled down on his pro-Israel stance, taking a hardline approach against Palestinians.

    Trump signed an executive order targeting international students who protest Israeli actions against Palestinians, and he's also taken aim at the International Criminal Court (ICC) after it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. The US president imposed sanctions on the ICC and invited Netanyahu to the White House, where Trump announced plans to expel all Palestinians from Gaza and "take over" the territory.

    This proposal is a blatant disregard for international law and would amount to ethnic cleansing. However, there's a potential financial windfall for the Trump family in this scenario. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a key advisor on Israeli policy, has significant investments in companies that profit from Israel's expansion of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.

    Trump and Kushner have both floated the idea of building luxury real estate on Gaza's Mediterranean coastline, with Trump describing it as "a phenomenal location" with "best weather". This echoes Kushner's earlier comments at Harvard University, where he salivated over Gaza's "waterfront property", suggesting that Israel should ethnically cleanse Palestinians to make way for development.

    Kushner's investment firm, Affinity Partners, has received a $2 billion injection from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. The deal stipulates that the money be invested in Israeli companies, including Phoenix Financial, which profits from illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. This means that both the Trump family and the Saudi monarchy stand to gain financially from the expansion of these settlements.

    In a bizarre gesture, Netanyahu gifted Trump a golden pager commemorating an Israeli terror attack in Lebanon that killed 12 civilians, including children. Trump praised the operation as "great" and accepted the gift with pride. The US president has also been accused of hypocrisy for his stance on Israel's actions against Palestinians, given his own family's financial interests in the region.