Palestinians have produced a video in response to a controversial clip posted by US President Donald Trump depicting his proposal to transform Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Trump’s AI-generated video, which was posted on his Truth Social account on Wednesday, featured scenes of barefoot Palestinians walking through destruction into a luxury resort. In the clip, skyscrapers lined Gaza’s coast and a golden Trump statue towered over a square.
Thousands of people on social media slammed the video as “vile”, “dystopian” and “genocidal”.
A counter-video was posted on X on Thursday, with the caption: “A message to #Trump: #Gaza will always be Palestinian!” by SahatEnglish, which describes itself as the “first Palestinian digital media platform unfiltering the Palestinian cause, history, resistance, and rights, addressing audiences speaking English”.
The video, also AI-generated, begins with a clip resembling the actual photos of tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians returning to their homes in northern Gaza earlier this year.
The clip features a bustling, lively strip with mosques and buildings by the sea.
Scenes of smiling children holding “I love Gaza” balloons appear to directly respond to a clip of a child holding a Trump balloon in Wednesday’s video.
Palestinian youth in keffiyehs performing the traditional Palestinian folk dance dabkeh on the beach, appears to counter the Trump’s video featuring bearded bellydancers on the shore.
A rock song plays in the background of the video with the lyrics: “Gaza is ours… no matter who, no matter how, we stand unshaken. We are here, we will remain, Gaza rises through the pain.”
The video also features AI-depictions of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk – but instead of sipping cocktails and smiling among cash as depicted in Trump’s video, they appear to be frustrated and angry.
The video was shared thousands of times and received widespread praise on social media.
“Despite living through a genocide and losing generations to Israel’s assault, and many being stuck outside of their land- young Gazan’s knew how to respond to Trump’s AI video in a befitting way,” responded one user.
“Love this! I will definitely be visiting,” another said.
‘Partying on a bloody Gaza beach’
A second AI-generated video response, featuring Trump and Netanyahu in swimsuits sipping cocktails on a blood-soaked Gaza beach, also went viral on Thursday.
Titled, “Strip in Trip”, the video by creative director Andrea Gastaldon depicts former US President Joe Biden smiling and eating an ice cream cone as red-tinged waves crash upon the shore, and European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen rubbing sun lotion on Trump’s back.
In other clips, former Vice President Kamala Harris makes sandcastles and Musk cries while clutching a toy rocket.
Gaza’s bombed-out buildings remain a fixture in the background throughout the video, which was shared thousands of times across several accounts.
Trump’s proposal earlier this month to “take over” Gaza and forcibly displace two million Palestinians into neighbouring countries was met with fierce criticism across the Arab world.
In Jordan, Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi said his country was ready to declare war on Israel should it attempt to forcibly expel Palestinians into its territory.
Saudi Arabia swiftly rejected Trump’s plan in a post on X just hours after Trump’s announcement, and cited their support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Trump’s plan was similarly met with fierce rejection from Cairo in an official statement, in which it states a “categorical rejection of any proposal or plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause”.
In an interview with Fox news on Friday, Trump said he was going to “sit back” and watch Arab countries craft a counter-proposal to his plan.
“The way to do it is my plan. I think that’s the plan that really works. But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it,” he said.
