Ireland's Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris responded today, February 5, to US President Donald Trump's comments last night that the "US will take over the Gaza Strip."
Trump made the comments on Tuesday evening at the White House during a press conference alongside the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, who became the first foreign leader to visit the White House during Trump's second term.
"The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is because they have no alternative," Trump said during his remarks.
After saying that Gaza is "just a demolition site," he said Palestinians "instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again."
He continued: "The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too."
The President said "we'll own it" and be "responsible" for dismantling the weapons there and leveling the sites.
The US will "create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area," he said.
"We'll do a real job. Do something different," Trump said. Just can't go back. If you go back, it's going to end up the same way it has for a hundred years."
Trump went on to say that he was "pleased to announce" that that day, the US withdrew from the "antisemitic" UN Human Rights Council and ended all of the support for the UN Relief and Works Agency which "funded money to Hamas and which was very disloyal to humanity."
In his remarks, Netanyahu said: "You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House."
Later, when asked if the US will pursue a permanent occupation, Trump said: "I do see a long-term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East and maybe the entire Middle East."
He continued: "Everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land," adding, "This is an idea that's gotten tremendous - I'm talking about from the highest levels of leadership - gotten tremendous praise and if the United States can help to bring stability and peace in the Middle East, we'll do that."
When asked, in regards to relocating Palestinians, if he supports a two-state solution, Trump said: "It doesn't mean anything a two-state or a one-state or any other state. It means we want to have, we want to give people a chance at life, they've never had a chance at life because the Gaza Strip has been a hellhole for people living there, Hamas has made it so bad, so bad, so dangerous, so unfair to people.
"And by doing what I'm recommending that we do - it's a very strong recommendation, but it is a strong recommendation - by doing that, we think we're going to bring, perhaps, great peace to long beyond this area.
"I have to stress this is not for Israel, this is for everybody in the Middle East - Arabs, Muslims. This is for everybody. This is where they can partake in terms of jobs, living, and all of the other benefits."
"I envision the world's people living there," Trump said, later adding that that includes Palestinians.
He continued: "I don't want to be cute, I don't want to be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle East - this could be something that could be so magnificent."
He concluded: "I have a feeling that despite them saying no, I have a feeling that the King in Jordan and that the general president, but that the General in Egypt will open their hearts and will give us the kind of land that we need to get this done and people can live in harmony and in peace."
On Wednesday, as the Irish Government returned to the Dail for its first sitting in two weeks, both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste responded to Trump's comments, indicating that Ireland's focus remains on preserving the ceasefire and supporting a two-state solution.
“It’s very clear the direction of travel here," the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs told reporters in Dublin on Wednesday.
"We need a two-state solution. The people of Palestine and the people of Israel both have a right to live in states safely side-by-side, and that’s where the focus has to be.
“Any idea of displacing the people of Gaza anywhere else would be in clear contradiction with UN Security Council resolutions.”
Harris said that when it comes to the US administration, he's always adopted the approach of "judge them based on what they do and not what they say."
He continued: “I think it would be important that the United States would clarify the comments of the President overnight because the international communities has put a huge effort now into bringing about a ceasefire.
"That ceasefire came much too late, much, much too late - I’ve been consistent on that for a very long period of time - but there now, finally, is a ceasefire, and it’s really important that that ceasefire holds.
“But then the next phase has to be a political process that brings about a two-state solution. And that’s where Ireland’s focus is going to be, that’s where I know the focus of the European Union is going to be, and I hope it’s the focus of where the US will be, too."
He said the notion of a two-state solution is not a "radical" or "new" thing to say and that's been the "long-held view of the international community that a two-state solution must be the landing zone here."
He went on to say that Trump's comments last night were "very concerning," adding that the focus "has to be on keeping the ceasefire in place."
Also speaking on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin agreed that "Gaza is hell on Earth right now and has been hell on Earth for the the last number of years."
He said the ceasefire is the "immediate priority," as is the reconsideration of Gaza.
He reiterated Ireland's support for a two-state solution: "We believe that’s the only viable way to have security for Israel but also a meaningful life for Palestinians in their homeland, side-by-side with Israel."
He continued: “I’ve been to Egypt, I’ve been to Jordan, I’ve been to the refugee camps in Jordan, they’re under huge pressure already with many, many Palestinians in those refugee camps in Jordan.
"UNRWA is the key to sustaining those refugee camps with the Kingdom of Jordan and the government of Jordan. They were very clear to me that they could not, in any circumstance, accept any more Palestinians in.
"It would be enormous concern for Jordan, and in Egypt, the idea that they could, or that they would be in a position or forced to take more in."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris react to Donald Trump's comments on making the Gaza Strip the US-owned "Riviera of the Middle East". pic.twitter.com/h56624vMtz
— Irish Daily Mirror (@IrishMirror) February 5, 2025
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