Much of the 6 am hour of Wednesday's edition of CNN This Morning was devoted to criticism and mockery of President Trump's suggestion that the US could take ownership of Gaza, converting the area into the Riviera of the Middle East, while relocating its population.
But to her credit, host Kasie Hunt did allot the hour's final 10 minutes to a discussion with Dan Senor, an expert on Israeli affairs and someone, as Hunt described, who often speaks with the principals involved in negotiations.
Rather than expressing unqualified support for Trump's proposal, Senor explicated it in these terms:
The Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the West Bank, and most notably from Gaza, from which Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005, has never worked. Invariably, the areas have been used to commit violence against Israel, culminating in the massacre of October 7th, and Israel has been obliged to go back in to the various areas.
So, repeating the same mistakes of the past is not an option. Rebuilding Gaza while permitting Hamas to remain and attempt to exert control is a recipe for failure. Senor paraphrased Trump this way:
"We keep trying to do the same thing over and over and we keep failing. So let's try something different."
Having Israel occupy Gaza is not a good idea, and something most Israelis themselves don't want.
If Gaza is to be rebuilt, it will take many years, and cannot be successfully accomplished with the 2.5 million Palestinians remaining in the area.
Whether Trump's plan is realistic in all its aspects, Gaza, given its location on the Mediterranean, does have tremendous potential.
Above all, Trump was putting on notice the leaders of other countries in the region, notably Egypt, Jordan, and the Sunni Gulf states— if they don't like Trump's proposal, they need to get "creative" on their own.
Senor unequivocally disagreed with Trump's suggestion that US troops could potentially be sent to Gaza, saying: "American military personnel should not be deployed in any capacity."
It was noteworthy that Hunt rarely interrupted Senor's remarks, did not actually push back on his takes, and was gracious in her interactions.
But that won't stop CNN from promptly reverting to form and trashing Trump on his Gaza proposal and any number of other matters!
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
2/5/25
6:50 am ETKASIE HUNT: Joining me now is Dan Senor. He's the host of the Call Me Back podcast, former foreign policy advisor to the Romney campaign and, of course, for anyone who doesn't know, clearly very involved, often speaking to many of the principals who are involved in all these negotiations. Dan, thank you so much for being on the show.
DAN SENOR: Hey, Kasie. Good to be with you.
HUNT: Dan, can you just help me understand what we saw at the White House last night, the president putting this out there, and whether or not this is something that he's actually really going to try to do?
SENOR: Look, um, I think that Israel has tried both in southern Lebanon and Gaza and the West Bank over the last number of decades to experiment with different approaches with getting out of these territories and letting local authorities effectively govern them, right?
So in the 1990s, Israel gradually withdrew from the west Bank. Obviously, it still has a security presence there, but it handed over governance to most of the West Bank, to what has become the Palestinian Authority. In May of 2000, Israel unilaterally withdrew from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah gradually, as we know, as we've seen tragically in recent years, took over. And in 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, hoping that the Palestinian Authority would be able to govern there.
In each of those three places, Kasie, Israel has effectively had to go back in, right? Israeli soldiers are dying in all of those areas Israel has withdrawn from.
We've seen what's happened in Lebanon in recent years. We've seen what's happened in the West Bank. Even at this moment, there is Israeli operations in parts of the northern West Bank. And obviously, we saw October 7th in Gaza and what has followed.
We are on a path right now in Gaza to just rinse and repeat to the same old scenario, which is to say, left to everyone's own devices, left on the trajectory that things are now on, Hamas is, as Israel has during the ceasefire, has been pulling back, Hamas is going to try and reassert control. The international community is going to help rebuild Gaza with Hamas there.
So tell me exactly how that looks any different from what Israel and the Palestinian people got between 2005 when Israel withdrew and October 7th of 2023. We're on a similar trajectory.
There are two options. Let that happen, or have Israel reoccupy Gaza. Now, nobody wants Israel to reoccupy Gaza, including the majority of Israelis.
So I think what President Trump is doing is throwing out other ideas. Do I think every detail of what he laid out last night is going to be what we actually see? Who knows? What he is saying is, guys, I think he said to this effect with exact words, we keep trying to do the same thing over and over and we keep failing. So let's try something different.
. . .
I mean, I've heard, people around him, you know, Jared Kushner over in the last number of years. And he said he, I'm not just, you know, Jared Kushner has said these things publicly --
HUNT: Yeah.
SENOR: -- particularly when he was working on the Abraham Accords and other projects, that it is a shame. It's tragic that this territory sitting there in the Mediterranean. I've been to Gaza. I was struck by it when I was there. I spent time in the Jabali refugee camp. And you sit there thinking, how has this place been left to rot by the local quote-unquote authorities, when it could have been developed into, you know, something much more hopeful for the Palestinian people.
So I think the president is actually, as he often does, is imagining a pretty ambitious vision for what Gaza could be.
So, at a minimum, you get everyone thinking, and you're putting pressure on everyone in the region to start thinking differently. More likely, he's thinking this could be something that could be a tremendous asset to the region and to the United States.
But in order to do any of it, it's going to take years and years of work. And the reality is there's two-and-a-half plus million Palestinians living there. If you really want to rebuild this place and you really want to turn it around, it's going to require a ton of work and a long time. And it's not going to be doable while all these, while this entire population is there.HUNT: Is it realistic that there would be American troops on the ground in Gaza, from a political perspective here in the U.S.?
SENOR: I have long believed that the best position for the U.S.-Israel relationship, the bilateral relationship, the best position for Israel and the best relationship for the United States, is let Israel fight its wars, let Israel protect itself, let Israeli men and women in uniform do the fighting.
It's in the U.S.'s interest to get Israel the tools it needs for Israel to fight its wars, but American military personnel should not be deployed in any capacity.
. . .
I think the important point from last night is, the president put the region on notice. We're not just going to keep doing the same thing over and over. So if you guys don't like my plan, you better start getting creative, President Sisi in Egypt, King Abdullah in Jordan, the Sunni Gulf leaders. Because we're just not going to rebuild Gaza with Hamas back in charge and try to hope and pray and cross our fingers that we're not going to get the same thing we got between 2005 and October 7th, 2023.
HUNT: All right, Dan Senor, fascinating conversation. Thank you very much for joining us. Come back anytime.
SENOR: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: See you soon.
SENOR: Great.
