Unhinged Trump's Genocide Threats Are a War Crime

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U.S. President Donald Trump has once again issued a threat to the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, and in fact all the people of Gaza to release all Israeli captives in the territory. In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump said once again “there will be hell to pay” if captives are not released. Now Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif Alkanu said on Thursday that “Trump's repeated threats against our people represents support to Netanyahu to evade the Gaza ceasefire agreement and tighten a siege and starvation against our people.” Hamas said threats will not work against Palestinians. In fact, the ceasefire was working and is the only way that the captives will be released. Now Donald Trump's threats and the occupation utilizing those threats as cover to renege on the Gaza ceasefire is a pressing issue of today's spotlight program and now for our guests Kevin Barrett from Saida, Morocco, and Sakina Datu, journalist and writer joining us out of London.

Hello, Dr. Kevin Barrett. Welcome to the program, sir. We're gonna start with you. Trump also said in the last couple of days, to the people of Gaza, “a beautiful future awaits you, but not if you hold the hostages. If you do, you are dead. Make a smart decision.” Now the same government's complicit in ruining your homeland, killing over 50,000 of your people, annihilating everything, all the infrastructure that you've grown up through and lived upon for many decades, is promising you a beautiful future—the same guy that's threatening you with complete dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Your initial thoughts.

Kevin Barrett: Well, the headline of the article I just published in Crescent International Magazine was that Trump is the ugly American on steroids. There's a stereotype of the ugly American, kind of the brutal, uncultured, uncouth, loud-mouthed ignorant slob who, if he gets a few drinks in him, is aggressive and extremely obnoxious. This obviously doesn't describe all Americans, but it describes, unfortunately, more than enough of them, including Trump. In fact, Trump is completely obviously just out of control.

And these obnoxious genocide threats are obviously illegal under international law. He's basically threatening to kill everybody in Gaza and finish the job, which means finish the genocide. He’s essentially threatening genocide. And that's really about the most extreme case that we can think of with regard to the kind of discussions people have had around the responsibility to protect or R2P concept, which is that when there's the imminent danger of an atrocity, even something much less than a genocide of the kind that we're seeing in Gaza, that force is required to stop it. And so that means that Trump has really put himself in the crosshairs of anybody in the world who believes in enforcing international law. He's made himself basically what Hitler would have been if Hitler were everything that they said he was, which he wasn't. But Trump is.

And in fact, half the American public basically sees Trump that way. And half of the European public or more sees him that way. And the whole Global Gouth sees that this genocide has put the United States so far on the wrong side of history that not only is that Zionist settler colonial project now doomed, with six billion people in the Global South determined to make sure that these genocide perpetrators meet their comeuppance and that this experiment be terminated with extreme prejudice, but the United States itself is now in the crosshairs of those 6 billion people too. And nobody more than Donald Trump is right there sitting in the center of this genocide machine, blabbering these disgusting threats.

Now, having said that, let me say there's always the slight chance that Trump is doing the sort of thing he did with North Korea during his first term, threatening fire and fury and brimstone like the world has never seen, basically threatening to drop nuclear bombs on North Korea. And then the next thing you know, he's shaking hands with its leader. And he's best friends with the leadership there.

The U.S. is now secretly—but not so secretly anymore, since it got leaked—negotiating with Hamas directly for the first time. So there's always the chance that Trump is using some kind of bizarre negotiating strategy where he pretends to be an unhinged genocidal psychotic. And in reality, that's a smokescreen for him doing something completely the opposite of what he seems to be doing based on what he's saying. And let's hope and pray that that's the case.

All right, thank you, Dr. Barrett. And Sakina Datu, thank you for your patience. Welcome to our spotlight program here. I hope you're safe and doing well out there in London. Now, Trump, Sakina, the same man who's been pushing for permanent dispossession of Gaza, is making threats of hell to pay. What is a bigger hell to pay than losing Gaza altogether when it comes to Palestinians? And two, how do Trump's threats, from your perspective, impact the occupation's adherence to the parameters of the Gaza ceasefire?

Sakina Datu: I think, you know, Donald Trump has…I’m tempted to say that he's actually gone crazy. But I do think that there's probably a strategy he's thinking about, and that's giving him credit for having any kind of intelligence, saying something else but planning something else. Because we've heard about the secret talks that he's having with Hamas. We've seen what he's done with Zelinski. It can very well happen with Netanyahu. It is not far-fetched to think that. He can turn the tables any time.

But having said that, Trump is not the main person making the decisions at the White House. We know that the entire team around him are hardcore Zionists. It is actually them calling the shots. But still, I think this threat that he has given is an empty threat. I don't think practically there is a possibility of US, for example, putting boots on the ground. Yes, of course they continue to give arms to Israel and encouraging them to keep on committing a genocide. But we have already seen a genocide happen. We are already seeing (genocide moving to) the West Bank.

And the Palestinians have sat through all this and they've made it very clear that they're not going anywhere. So short of him really putting the boots on the ground and forcefully removing people, I don't know how this can happen. And when you talk about putting the boots on the ground, when you're talking about the Israeli army, for example, these are diaper armies. These are very good at just sitting on their machines and throwing drones and killing children and women. But if they are forced, to meet the resistance or to meet Palestinians, they will not be able to survive.

So I think that Trump likes to make waves. He likes to give these statements that are very controversial. It makes people react. For example, when he threatened to build his Riviera in Gaza for the first time, we saw the Arabs coming together and actually sit down and think of a future. And I think that is what he was aiming to do. Even though he has rejected that proposal, I think his way of governing is just to create waves and to start making people think about different possibilities.

On the other hand, Trump is creating enemies everywhere, from Mexico to Canada to Europe. Everywhere, people don't like him. So the issue of him threatening Hamas, that he is going to create yet another genocide, at this stage, it just doesn't look like a real threat.

And Dr. Barrett, why, when you have a plan to avoid a further bloodshed, more death, more destruction, and it's being implemented and it's working, why would you want to interrupt it with threats, with a push to extend the first phase to 50 more days? When everything wasn't working smoothly, there was violations, but by the Israeli side, your ally in Tel Aviv was the one that violated the ceasefire since January 19th, every single day, not the Palestinian resistance. How does Donald Trump not understand his role here? His interjection in this process is not benefiting the captives and it is not benefiting the ceasefire.

Kevin Barrett: I don't think that Trump understands the situation much. And so he's basically, as the other guest said, taking orders from people around him who are hardcore Zionists. allied with the coalition that's currently ruling, which is the most extremist genocidal government in the history of the Zionist entity, which is saying something. And so I think that it's clear that Netanyahu does not want the ceasefire process to continue smoothly. He wants to end it because his messianic millenarian maniacs in his cabinet, people like Smotrich and Ben-Gavir, are going to step down if the ceasefire holds. If it continues into its second and third phases and then peace returns, that would mean the end of the extremists' plan to try to murder seven million Palestinians and drive the survivors out. Of course, that's not realistic. But they imagine that their warped version of God is somehow going to help them accomplish this massive genocide of all the Palestinians.

I think Netanyahu is too smart to actually believe that that's going to happen. Or I should say maybe too secular in terms of the way he thinks. But he's stuck, because if he were to allow the ceasefire to continue and to work the way it's supposed to work, then he'll lose his cabinet, which means he'll lose his office and peace will break out. And suddenly there will be investigations of everything from Netanyahu's bribery and corruption scandals to what really happened on October 7th, when Israel invoked the Hannibal Directive and slaughtered hundreds of its own civilians deliberately to prevent them from being taken hostage, according to that Hannibal Directive. And if anyone who's watching this doesn't realize that, they can just look at the pictures of the hundreds of cars that were destroyed by firepower far beyond what any Palestinians had that day. Or look at the pictures of the kibbutzes that were destroyed by massive firepower from tanks. Talk to the survivors there, survivors who were witnesses to the fact that Israeli tanks murdered everybody in these kibbutzes.

So if that investigation happens and it becomes clear that it was actually the Israelis who murdered the majority of the civilians who died on October 7th, and Netanyahu was held responsible for this debacle, then he'll spend the rest of his life in prison on a long list of charges. So he doesn't want a ceasefire, and his people are around Trump telling Trump to say things that will blow up the ceasefire process.

Thank Dr. Barrtett and Sakina Datu. Let's shift now over to the Palestinian resistance or Palestinians who have dealt with these threats of dispossession and violence and the active policy of dispossession and violence for over 80 years. I'm telling Donald Trump, “no, it's not going to work. There was something there was a mechanism in place that was working. It's the only thing that is going to work if you care about the fate of the captives. The Palestinians are undeterred by threats after 80 years. You should know that.”

Sakina Datu: Absolutely. In many ways, Palestinians have already won. From the interviews we do with women in particular in Gaza, they have come to a stage whereby beyond that, beyond the suffering that they have endured, they tell us themselves that they don't feel anything anymore. They have crossed that stage of fear. From now on it can only be resistance, because they've endured so much. You know, a human being…there comes a point in time when there is so much you can take and after that you almost become invincible because there is nothing now that can truly shake you. So when when people reach this kind of a state and this kind of resistance I think they've become very dangerous in a sense. And I think this is where the Palestinians are today.

But it is not just the Palestinians. If you look at the region now, since the fall of Syria…we were questioning “where are the Syrians, where is the resistance?” And today we can see that people are now taking to the streets to start fighting the terrorist government that has been put in place there. And so even though Israel thinks that it has moved and captured some of the cities in Syria, the resistance is beginning to form over there. The same is the situation in Lebanon. I mean, we saw 1.4 million people turn up for the recent funeral recently of Hassan Nasrallah.

So people have reached a point whereby they now don't care, it doesn't matter to them whether you kill them because whether they are alive or dead, for them that's a win. Martyrdom for these people is a win. And when it comes to the U.S. or Israel, I think sometimes they are blinded also by their arrogance. And we know that Allah says this in the Holy Quran that oppressors, there comes a point when they are so blinded by their arrogance, it brings about their own downfall.

And so if you look at, for example, Trump, I think what he's doing is he may be intending to make people just react. But in essence, he is forming this resistance around the world, not just in the Middle East. Israel has lost the PR war in a major way. Even sitting here in the West, the ordinary people have been subjected to all sorts of threats now because they don't want us to speak. Any journalist who talks about the Palestinian issuem any activist, is facing a lot of heat. But that is simply because the message is getting through. The ordinary Western person in these countries has completely understood who the aggressors are and who the oppressed are. It is just the leadership controlled by the Zionist entity that is trying to still be on the side of Israel. But this will implode. Israel itself it is going to implode from within. It is a society that is psychopathic. If you look at the soldiers and the mental capacity and the moral values that they possess…This is a society that cannot continue for a very long time. And I think what Trump is doing is adding to that collapse.

So, yes, of course, in the short term, things will get a lot worse and we may see more and more suffering happening. But this is only a matter of time. And when you go back in history, you see major empires…This is how they collapsed. And now we are seeing the same thing. We are seeing the collapse of the West and its hegemony and also Israel.

Thank you, Sakino. And Dr. Barrett, I'd like to also get your take on a Palestinian resistance undeterred by these threats from the White House. And you mentioned earlier, it could be some kind of bluff by Donald Trump or some kind of strategy to elicit some kind of cooperation, albeit I can't really visualize Trump and Hamas shaking hands and taking photo ops the way we saw Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. But nevertheless, Palestinians said that they will not entertain these threats from the White House. So if it is a strategy by Donald Trump the Palestinians have said that it's not going to work, and they're not going to concede.

Kevin Barrett: Yeah, I was throwing that possibility out as a kind of a long shot. And unfortunately that's probably not the case. So the Palestinians are really going to have to continue to resist, to stick with the ceasefire plan and to make it clear that they're the ones who are holding to the ceasefire plan’s provisions and that others are violating them, the Zionists are violating them. Trump is basically urging the massive violation of this ceasefire plan.

So it's a case of might versus right. Palestinians are right. They're telling the truth. The powerful Zionist entity backed by the United States is lying through its teeth and committing atrocities, genocide, and violating this solemnly signed agreement. And then the world looks on. And to what extent will the world side with truth and justice? To what extent will it allow itself to be cowed by vicious tyranny? That's the test that we're all undergoing. But as the other guest said, I think the world is getting fed up with the likes of Donald Trump and the way he represents the American empire as a totally out of control, predatory, ugly American stereotype, which is really what it's always been. But they used to hide it better. Well, the mask is off. The Trump monster has come out of the basement and we can all see it. And the world needs to unite against this kind of lunacy and stand with the Palestinians. And their steadfastness and courage is just becoming so legendary. And everybody who cares about truth and justice around the world is in awe of the Palestinians and praying for their success.

And Sakina, these threats, this is a direct quote from Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasim said in a statement, “these threats complicate matters regarding the ceasefire agreement and encourage the occupation to avoid implementing its terms.” How is Israeli leadership, from your point of view, seizing on Trump's, and I like the way Dr. Kevin Barrett put it, ignorance of the Palestinian struggle and decades-old injustices done on to Palestinians by the occupation… How is the occupation seizing this opportunity to have Donald Trump give them cover so they can manipulate everything from Gaza to the occupied West Bank?

Sakina Datu: I mean, we see this very clearly. When Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to visit Netanyahu and as the symbolic gift he gave him that pager to indicate that they want to use him, calling him the best friend Israel has ever had is while he is in office. I don't believe that it is only Netanyahu. I think it is the whole strategy of the Zionist entity, seeing an opportunity of expanding. They've always wanted this expansion of the Greater Israel. And they are mistaken. But they think that this is an opportunity because they have created a genocide. A lot of Palestinians are very weak. We hear some of the politicians, for example, talking about the fact that let's do this now in the month of Ramadan when they are fasting so they are weak. Let's, you know, just to kill them all at this time when they can't fight back. So in their mind, they are thinking that, you know, the resistance is weakened everywhere. But this is far from the truth.

And in terms of the agreement itself, this was an agreement whereby the U.S. was part of it. It was something that was agreed. You know, it just boggles your mind as to how the U.S. and Israel are thinking that the rule of the jungle is absolutely acceptable, that they can agree to things and then just on a whim decide that they are not implementing them at any moment.

I think Netanyahu is counting a bit too much on President Trump. I know that President Trump is very hugely supporting the Zionist entity, not just him, but Elon Musk and everyone around him is a supporter of it. But Donald Trump has shown that he can be quite crazy and he can turn against anybody. And what he's doing at the moment with Europe weakening himself, I think this can backfire badly on not just America, but also on Israel.

And Dr. Kevin Barrett, imagine for a second if the Palestinians concede. They give up the captives, the only leverage they have without going into the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, where permanent end is basically hammered out to put an end to this 16-month onslaught permanently, and also see a permanent withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Gaza. If Palestinians concede and give up their captives, their only leverage now, where does that leave them in the scope of things?

Kevin Barrett: If the US president were somebody that could be trusted when he makes a promise, then that would be a different situation. But we have this seeming madman in the Oval Office, drooling and screaming these crazed genocidal threats, a very, very unstable maniac who obviously cannot be trusted to keep his word. And so it would be complete madness to say, “okay, well, Mr. Trump, you're threatening us that you're going to bring American soldiers into Gaza when the Israelis couldn't even put a dent in Hamas and the other resistance groups over a year and a half of fighting. The American people have no interest in these kinds of wars. And so you really think you're going to send American troops to come and try to do what the Israelis couldn't do?”

So of course the resistance cannot give up under these kinds of threats. And indeed, I don't think anyone expects them to, really. I don't think Trump is uttering these threats because he expects anyone to actually release these captives and give up all their leverage. So... It's kind of ridiculous. In this kind of situation, when one of the parties to the negotiations behaves in this manner, it really is a signal that it's obviously just an attempt to really undermine the whole process. And so all Hamas can do and all the resistance can do is stand by the agreement that they signed, make it clear that they're the ones standing by it and that these other parties are behaving atrociously and not standing by the agreement that they signed.

And the world will look on. And ultimately, however things play out in the short, medium and long terms, I think the world is going to be turning increasingly towards support for the Palestinians and against the American empire headed by this lunatic, and the Zionist entity headed by an even more evil lunatic.

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