Most people watching the Super Bowl didn’t see it, but for a brief moment, one of Kendrick Lamar’s performers broke from their routine and began waving a Sudanese and Palestinian flag before being violently removed and arrested. Trump was in attendance.
For the crime of peacefully raising awareness to the genocides happening in Sudan and Gaza, the NFL banned the individual from all stadiums and events “for life.” The New Orleans Police Department said it’s “working to determine applicable charges in this incident.”
More than 16 months of war has erupted between Hamas militants in Gaza–who killed over 1,000 Israelis during an attack on October 7, 2023–and the Israeli military, which faces accusations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for its response.
Palestine’s Gaza strip resembles an apocalyptic disaster zone even as hundreds of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children return to their land, which has faced a brutal occupation and blockade for nearly two decades. Over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Oct. 7 attack, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Trump wants forced displacement and luxury resort
In a single statement, Donald Trump dealt the final blow to a fragile ceasefire when he claimed Gaza would be transformed into a luxury resort and Palestinians would not have the right to return.
“I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever—it’s not habitable,” Trump told Brett Baier on Fox News Sunday during a Super Bowl pre-show interview.
“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,” he said to reporters aboard Air Force One.
Trump first made the suggestion in a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant “for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024,” according to the International Criminal Court.
International law: Trump’s plans for Palestinians equal war crime
Soon after Trump’s statements, Hamas announced it was halting the release of Israeli hostages “until further notice.” The militant group resisting the Israeli government’s decades-long occupation was engaging in an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but it halted the plans Monday citing days of Israeli ceasefire violations and Trump’s most recent comments.
The swift reaction in the Arab world has led to Egypt announcing an emergency Arab Summit with Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to discuss Trump’s plans for the region.
Ultimately, Trump’s blatant plans to forcibly displace Palestinians from their land amounts to a war crime and crime against humanity.
According to international humanitarian law, forced displacement is always unlawful “when it is based on policies of apartheid, ethnic cleansing or similar practices aimed at/or resulting in altering the ethnic, religious or racial composition of the affected population.”
Displacement or dignity? World must respond
Saudia Arabia soundly rejected Trump’s plans to resettle Palestinians in neighboring countries in a response to Netayanhu’s suggestion that the country should take in the more than 2 million Palestinians.
“This occupying extremist mindset does not comprehend what the Palestinian territory means for the brotherly people of Palestine and its conscientious, historical and legal association with that land,” Saudia Arabia said in a statement.
Trump and Netanyahu, both heads of states with criminal cases against them in their home countries, have made it clear they don’t believe in international law or the rule of law applying to them. They believe in holding power, expanding power and unleashing it against their enemies.
It’s now up to the people of their countries, standing in solidarity with nations around the world, to reject a vision of forced displacement and embrace peace and dignity for all human beings.