BEACHFRONT PROPERTY CALL GAZA 666

Amid war and large-scale displacement in Gaza, Israeli settlers plan their return

More than 80% of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced. The fear they may never be allowed back to their homes is bolstered by a growing movement in Israel to resettle in the Gaza Strip.

The World
December 26, 2023 · 

By Rebecca Collard






An ad from an Israeli real estate company, advertising a sea-front home in Gaza, transposed on the rubble of Palestinian homes, posted on Dec. 13, 2023. The post and the Instagram account have since been deleted after receiving elevated criticism on social media.
Screenshot from Instagram

 This month, as the Israeli Air Force continued to bombard the Gaza Strip, an Israeli real estate company posted images of Israeli settlements transposed on top of the rubble of Palestinian homes in Gaza.

“Wake up, a beach house is not a dream,” reads the ad, which includes a map of the future Israeli settlements in Gaza. “Now at pre-sale pieces.”

The company advertising beach-front homes for Israelis in the Gaza Strip also has settlements in the West Bank. And, while there has been no Israeli government approval of any new settlements in Gaza, the ad is part of a growing movement among Israeli settlers to return to Gaza, heightening fears that Palestinians displaced by the fighting may not be allowed to return to their homes.

Israeli Knesset member Limor Son Har Melech posted a video of herself in a boat with other settlers off the coast of Gaza earlier this month, as the war raged inside.

“First of all, it’s all very exciting,” said Son Har Melecha, a member of Israel’s far-right Jewish Power party. She goes on to call the return of Israeli settlements to Gaza a true picture of victory.

“Settlement in every part of the Gaza Strip … A large, extensive settlement without fear, without hesitation, without humiliation. This land is the land that the creator of the world gave to us.”

Returning Jewish settlements to Gaza is much more than messianic rhetoric.

A timeline line of Jewish presence in Gaza on the wall of the Gush Katif Museum

The boat trip wrapped up a day-long conference that included plans and logistics for building Israeli settlements in Gaza. In a WhatsApp group for would-be settlers, there is an online registration form asking applicants about their family size and current residence.

A leaked Israeli government document from October proposed relocating Gaza’s population to Egypt, and it’s something that has been alluded to by Israeli politicians.

“Oct. 7 definitely provided a lot more emboldening and legitimacy for those on the right who have been talking about expanding settlements,” said Mairav Zonszein, who is with the International Crisis Group. “Basically, one Jewish supremacist state between the river and the sea.”

Israel occupied Gaza and the West Bank in the 1967 war, and soon after, Israelis began settling there, even though it’s illegal under international law to establish settlements in an occupied territory. By 2005, when Israel withdrew from Gaza in what it called its unilateral disengagement, there were around 9,000 Israeli settlers in more than 20 settlements in Gaza. The numbers were much smaller than those in the West Bank, but as the Second Intifada raged, it took more soldiers and resources to protect those settlers.

The Gush Katif Museum in Jerusalem is named after the biggest of those settlement blocks. Gush Katif, which translates to the ‘Harvest Bloc,’ was built in the southwest of the Strip between, Rafah and Khan Yunis.

Here, the emboldening Zonszein talks about can be seen in piles of bright orange shirts stacked on tables and chairs, reading: “Going home. Going back to Gush Katif.”

 

A pile of ‘Return to Gush Katif’ T-shirts for sale at the Gush Katif Museum.
Credit: Rebecca Collard/The World

The movement to return Israeli settlements in Gaza is not new.

Since Israel’s 2005 disengagement, settlers have kept the flame of reoccupation and resettlement alive, but motivation, planning and general Israeli support for that have risen sharply. Avner Franklin, a guide and group co-ordinator at the Gush Katif Museums, said they are selling a hundred times more shirts than before.

Until recently, returning Israeli settlements to Gaza seemed like a pipe dream of Israel’s religious right movement, but according to a poll by Israel’s Channel 12 last month, more Israelis supported the re-occupation and return of settlements in Gaza than opposed it.

Photos in the Gush Katif Museum show Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.
Credit: Rebecca Collard/The World

Mani is visiting the museum to buy return-to-Gush-Katif shirts for her six children. She’s originally from Washington, DC. She did not want to give her last name because she said she is related to people who are in the US government. She said Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, which left around 1,200 Israelis dead and hundreds more as hostages in Gaza, is proof Israel needs those settlements to keep Israelis safe.

“Sending Jews back into Gaza to live there will strategically help us both as a state and as a Jewish people to secure our future in Israel for hundreds and thousands of years to come,” she said. Americans need to understand that Israel is fighting the war in Gaza not just on behalf of Israel but the US and the entire world, Mani added.

“This is a war against evil,” she said.

But the US has said they do not want to see Israel reoccupy Gaza in any long-term way, and in recent days — as the death toll in Gaza has soared to over 20,000 — has urged Israel to use more resistance and avoid civilian deaths. But so far, Washington has not stopped arms transfers to Israel or been willing to use any of its other real levers to rein in the Israeli military offensive.

A six-foot tall menorah in the Gush Katif Museum. In December, Israeli soldiers brought it to Gaza and lit it for Hanukkah.
Credit: Rebecca Collard/The World

“Settlements do not bring security. Settlements are one of the main obstacles in this conflict to any kind of resolution,” said Zonszein.

One room of the museum is dedicated to Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, with videos on a loop of Israeli soldiers forcibly removing Jewish settlers. Then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who had pushed for Israel to build settlements in occupied territories after the 1967 war, was also the one who pushed for the Gaza disengagement. His finance minister at the time, current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, voted in favor of the plan at first but then resigned in protest, laying the groundwork for his return to the prime minister's office five years later.

A room in the Gush Katif Museum showing images of Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.
Credit: Rebecca Collard/The World

Zonszein said that for now, it is not Israeli government policy to resettle in Gaza, but she said, as the war goes on, if Israel develops a military presence in northern Gaza, settlers could make attempts to set up settlements.

“I don't see that happening right now…,” Zonszein said, “But it could happen in a more kind of tacit way. I wouldn't rule it out. Let's put it that way.”

Related: Stateless Palestinians in Jordan struggle to make a future

BEACH FRONT FOLLIES

Trump’s AI Gaza video elicits mockery from Middle East social media users

The US president’s video depicting a future Gaza under American authority was widely shared on Arabic and Hebrew social media, with many Palestinian users criticizing it.

Adam Lucente
Feb 26, 2025

Al-Monitor

Truth Social. Photo collage created by Al-Monitor on Feb. 26, 2025.

The Middle East has reacted with a mix of astonishment and rage to US President Donald Trump posting a video of Gaza made by artificial intelligence. The video follows Trump’s backtracking on his plan to “take over” the Palestinian enclave.

What happened: Trump posted the AI video on his social network, Truth Social, late Tuesday evening. The video starts with scenes of people walking through rubble and bombed-out buildings before the words “What’s next?” appear on the screen.

Children and a woman in a head covering are then shown walking through a tunnel toward pristine beaches. Some of the scenes that follow include billionaire and presidential adviser Elon Musk dancing as paper money falls from the sky, a hotel bearing the name Trump Gaza, and sports cars driving through a narrow street with a high-rise in the background and a gold statue of Trump nearby. The video even includes Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sunbathing by a swimming pool.


The dance music in the video features lyrics promoting Trump Gaza.

“Trump Gaza shining bright. Golden future, a brand-new light,” the song goes.

Trump expressed his desire for the United States to “take over” and develop the Gaza Strip earlier this month. He later doubled down on the plan, calling on Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinians from the enclave. His remarks have been rejected by Palestinian leaders as well as the rulers of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states.

Israel occupied Gaza after the 1967 war and withdrew its troops in 2005. The Palestinian militant group Hamas took over Gaza in 2007 and has since had several military confrontations with Israel. The October 2023 war has largely destroyed Gaza and left over 47,000 Palestinians killed, according to local authorities. The United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank estimated in a joint assessment last week that $53.2 billion would be needed for recovery and reconstruction over the next 10 years.

A ceasefire came into effect last month.

Reactions: The video was heavily criticized by Palestinians on social media. Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said the video “makes a mockery of all serious plans to change & transform Gaza.”


Palestinian American author Samar Jarrah described the video as "cultural and moral decadence."

Palestinian social media influencer Khaled Safi said in a post on X that the video "embodies the mentality of colonizers throughout history."

Trump was similarly slammed by some Arabic media professionals. Algerian presenter Ania El Afandi wrote "who told him it was for sale!" in reference to Trump's plans for Gaza.



London-based Egyptian journalist Osama Gaweesh said in a post on X that “Donald Trump has literally lost his mind," calling the images of money falling from the sky “despicable.”

Israel’s Channel 13 referred to the video as “odd.”

Know more: Trump indicated recently that he may be backing away from his Gaza proposal. He told Fox News on Friday that he was “surprised” by Jordan's and Egypt’s opposition given the large amount of US aid they receive, but he added that he would not “force” the 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 told the outlet.

'Pure evil' — Trump, Musk, Netanyahu feature in grotesque AI Gaza clip

Donald Trump posts AI-generated video on his Truth Social network, showing him and his allies partying in reimagined Gaza, prompting many commentators to call it "racist", "anti-Christ" and ethnic cleansing "rebranded as real estate deal."



Others

Trump posts AI-generated video showing a giant golden statue of himself in "future" Gaza and a gift shop with little Trumps sitting on a throne.

Social media users have reacted with outrage and frustration after Donald Trump's official social media accounts posted an AI-generated video depicting Israel-ravaged Gaza rebuilt into a seaside resort, replete with a towering golden statue of the American president.

The video, which racked up millions of views on Instagram and was shared thousands of times on Trump's Truth Social network by Wednesday morning, prompted online backlash, with many commenters calling it "pure evil", "racist" and "ethnic cleansing."

The 33-second clip "Gaza 2025 What's Next?" opens with people on a rubble-strewn street emerging from a tunnel onto a beach with palm trees and yachts.

Trump has floated the idea of US occupation of Gaza under which its Palestinian population would be expelled and never allowed to return — a proposal that has triggered widespread criticism.

He later appeared to soften his plan, saying he was only recommending the idea, and conceded the leaders of Jordan and Egypt had rejected the proposal to move Palestinians against their will.

In the social media clip, the soundtrack includes the lyrics "Donald's coming to set you free, bringing the light for all to see" and "feast and dance, the deal is done, Trump Gaza number one."

Seemingly AI-generated renditions of shirtless Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sip cocktails in swimsuits by a pool, while other shots show what appears to be billionaire Elon Musk dancing under a shower of cash on the beach.

The video features bearded belly dancers and an image of US president hugging a scantily clad belly dancer.

Musk is shown tossing dollars and enjoying hummus by the beach.

One scene, however, closely resembles an AI-generated image of Trump and Netanyahu drinking cocktails that began circulating in early February.

A larger-than-life golden statue of Trump is also featured. The video also shows a gift shop with little Trumps sitting on a throne.

Biblical symbols were quickly picked by users in the video, with one user saying: "Mr President while I appreciate what you do, is not about you. To God be the glory and the honour, for without Him, you couldn't have accomplished anything. The statue is a symbol of the antichrist, please humble yourself to God."

'Mocks Gaza's humanitarian crisis'

The video "is grotesque — glorifying luxury on a war-torn land while ignoring the suffering of millions," X user Richard Angwin wrote.

"It's a shameless fantasy, not a solution, and mocks Gaza's humanitarian crisis. Disgraceful."

Howard Beckett, UK-based activist and trade unionist, lashed out at the video, calling it "truly racist fascism."

"It needs to be seen to be believed: Trump statues; Musk dancing; Trump & Netanyahu sun bathing & drinking cocktails. Monsters rejoicing in their genocide & ethnic cleansing."

X user Laura Dodsworth called the video as "a psychological warfare."

"A surreal vision of conquest, humiliation, and dominance, wrapped in gold and absurdity."

Another X user pointed at the Trump's crack down on border crossings and mass deportations of immigrants since taking office in January.

"The irony is Trump signed executive orders to stop what he immorally called 'invasion of illegals' yet he's showcasing the illegal invasion of a foreign land."

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, lawyer and activist, described the video as "ethnic cleansing rebranded as a real estate deal."

"Colonialist White Supremacist Zionism. Pure Evil."



Genocide in Gaza

Nearly 16 months of Israel's genocidal war has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, wounded over 115,000, left much of Gaza in ruins and most of its population displaced.

Another 10,000 Palestinians have been abducted by Israel and dumped in Israeli jails and torture chambers. Experts and some studies say this is just a tip of an iceberg, and the actual Palestinian death toll could be around 200,000.


UN estimates put the cost of reconstruction at more than $53 billion.


A ceasefire — breached scores of times by Israel — in effect since January 19 has allowed an increase in humanitarian aid into Gaza, though Israel has been frequently blocking the entry of some essential supplies.


Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.


Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies

Trump shares AI-generated video of Gaza transformation, featuring golden statue and ‘Will Set You Free’ song

Amid controversy over his remarks about “taking over” the Gaza Strip, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday shared an AI-generated video portraying a transformed Gaza, reimagined as a lavish tourist destination.  

The video, titled ‘Trump’s Gaza’, showcases skyscrapers, children gazing at the sky as dollar bills rain down, and Elon Musk enjoying hummus on a Gaza beach. A boy holds a golden balloon resembling Trump’s face, while an enormous golden statue of Trump towers over the city, with people looking up at it. Trump is also depicted dancing in a nightclub, and a building prominently displays the name “Trump Gaza.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears seated on a deck chair beside Trump, sipping a beverage near a swimming pool with “Trump Gaza” in the background.  

A song playing in the video features lyrics that declare, “Donald Trump will set you free, bringing the life for all to see. No more tunnels, no more fear, Trump’s Gaza is finally here. Trump’s Gaza is shining bright, golden future, a brand new life. Feast and dance; the deed is done. Trump Gaza number one.”  

The video follows Trump’s earlier comments about the US taking control of Gaza and transforming it, remarks that have drawn widespread criticism.  

During a joint press conference with Netanyahu in the US, Trump stated that the ongoing ceasefire-hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas could mark the beginning of a broader and lasting peace. However, his vision faced strong opposition from international leaders, who condemned any notion of taking over Palestinian land.  

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri dismissed Trump’s idea as “ridiculous and absurd,” calling it a “recipe for chaos and tension in the region.” Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh reiterated the PLO’s firm opposition to any displacement of Palestinians, emphasizing that a two-state solution, in accordance with international law, remains the only path to peace.  

Palestinian UN representative Riyad Mansour stated that people in Gaza should be allowed to return to their original homes in Israel. Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its support for an independent Palestinian state and reiterated that it would not establish diplomatic ties with Israel until such a state is created, with East Jerusalem as its capital.  

(ANI)

GAZA BEACH FRONT DEVELOPER

EXPOSED
Fogbow, a US firm with military links, eyes maritime plan for Gaza aid

A private US firm run by former military and ex-CIA members is pushing plans to build a movable jetty off Gaza’s coast so more lifesaving goods can get into the besieged Palestinian enclave. But UN officials, aid workers and several European government officials have expressed doubts about the project and voiced scepticism over the group’s origins and motives.


Issued on: 12/07/2024 - 

 France 24

PICTURE POSTCARD

The Gaza coastline near Nuseirat Palestinian refugee camp, with ships in the distance. 

LONG READ

By: Jessica LE MASURIERFollow|Dulcie Leimbach

The bid to get humanitarian assistance to Gaza via a sea route has hit troubled waters over the past few months, but it has not stopped a US company run by former military and CIA officials from pushing its controversial plan to secure maritime access to deliver aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave.

At a press conference on Thursday, US President Joe Biden said he was "disappointed" with the problem-plagued effort to deliver aid to Gaza via a temporary pier.

The $230-million US military pier has repeatedly been detached from the shore because of weather conditions since its initial installation in mid-May.

Biden’s comments came hours after the Pentagon announced that the US military was abandoning efforts to reinstall the pier, which was detached last month due to anticipated high seas.

Despite the repeated problems with the pier, Fogbow, a US private firm, is moving forward with its plan, which it calls Blue Beach, to deliver aid to Gaza via a maritime route.

Fogbow’s backstory is replete with deep military, intelligence and financial interests in a region wracked by the nine-month Gaza war whose death toll keeps rising.

Mick Mulroy, a Fogbow company official, recently told FRANCE 24 and PassBlue that the firm is working with USAID, the UN World Food Programme, the US military and a Fogbow-linked charity to pursue the Blue Beach project despite the failure of the US pier.

Fogbow shipped its first pallets of aid, with the help of the US military, on June 27, according to Mulroy. Some 1,100 tons of flour worth “nearly $1 million” – bought by Fogbow from a Cypriot mill – were shipped from the Larnaca port in Cyprus to Gaza.

Fogbow is not only looking to run aid operations into Gaza but also to play a role in its reconstruction, according to numerous UN and US government sources. But inconsistencies in the firm’s messaging and stated goals have left some of these experts questioning the organisation’s agenda.

PassBlue and FRANCE 24 spoke with two of Fogbow’s principals, Mulroy and Chris Hyslop, on a Zoom call in late June and at least 30 people in the US, Cypriot and other European governments, as well as the UN and other NGOs, to shed light on Fogbow’s plans for Gaza.

A mysterious early-morning call

The call set off her alarm bells. It was 8am and Julia*, a human rights specialist, whose reputed NGO has an office near UN headquarters in New York, had just stepped out of the shower when the phone rang. “I’d like to speak to your events manager,” the caller barked.

“Sorry, we don’t have an events organiser. How may I help you?” she asked. The caller said she was from Fogbow, a group Julia had never heard of, which the woman said was exploring alternative ways of getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“I explained to the woman on the phone that we are also interested in getting aid into Gaza and suggested we might be able to collaborate,” said Julia.

“There was no, ‘Oh well, let’s all work together’ – which tends to be what the humanitarian community does,” Julia said.

“No,” the Fogbow woman said unequivocally to suggestions of collaborating. “'We are a private company.' What she wanted was to host an event with us in our space in New York.”

After Julia got off the phone, she Googled “Fogbow” and saw that it is mostly made up of former US military and intelligence people. “I thought: ‘Why are they interested in working with us? What are they up to?’”

That’s the same question that a UN front-line aid worker asked himself when a former member of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs turned up in his office in early February on a charm offensive. Chris Hyslop, a Fogbow official, came armed with a PowerPoint presentation laying out his company’s Blue Beach proposal for a movable pier. He was accompanied by Eric Oehlerich, a former US Navy Seal.
A slide showing Fogbow's 'Blue Beach Plan' presentation. © France 24

The humanitarian aid, Hyslop said, would be bought by Fogbow and shipped through the Amalthea maritime route from the Larnaca port in Cyprus to Gaza that is being promoted by the Cypriot government. The presentation obtained exclusively by FRANCE 24 and PassBlue detailed plans for a “quay” on Gaza’s coastline.

A slide showing Fogbow's 'aid delivery zone'. © France 24

The presentation even addressed plans for “crowd control management” at the “depot area”.

There was good reason to consider crowds: More than 100 people were killed in a stampede in Gaza City in February as people desperately tried to grab some sacks of flour from a food convoy and Israeli forces fired on them.

Fogbow presentation showing Gaza Industrial Estate. © France 24

“They (Hyslop and Oehlerich) claimed they’d met at a kind of county fair, somewhere in the middle of nowhere in America,” the worker said in an interview with PassBlue and FRANCE24.

But for those involved in aid distribution, the plan seemed almost comically out of touch with the realities on the ground in Gaza, where Israel’s relentless bombing in retaliation for the Hamas October 7 massacre has complicated if not halted deliveries as famine looms.

“We sniggered because none of it made any sense,” the UN aid worker continued. “It was so removed from the political reality. It sounded like a crackpot scheme, to be honest.”

“There was something fishy from the start.”

The Fogbow team told the UN worker they had financial backing from “wealthy individuals” and the government of the United Arab Emirates. They said they had also secured the support of the Israel Defence Forces, or IDF, and a tentative green light from COGAT – Israel’s aid coordination cell in the Palestinian territories – to move ahead with the plan.

Who runs Fogbow?

The Fogbow military veterans who run the show include Sam Mundy and Mulroy. The latter is a former naval specialist with the CIA who served in the Trump administration as deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Mideast.

Mulroy was also a director of the Yemen Steering Initiative, “a $50 billion program designed to jumpstart the process to prevent Yemen from becoming a failed state”, according to his LinkedIn page. The initiative was devised, four years ago, by the RAND corporation, a think-tank closely tied to the US defence-intelligence apparatus.

RAND also did a study on the Gaza Arc in 2005, which included plans for a floating maritime dock.

Mundy served as a commander of the Marine Corps Forces Central Command (MARCENT), which is responsible for Marines deployed in the Mideast and participated in a 2022 JINSA Program in Israel focused on underscoring the importance of the US-Israel defence relationship to US national security.

Hyslop brought the UN connections to Fogbow. His LinkedIn bio says he was involved with UN “security” when he worked for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Mulroy told Passblue and FRANCE 24 that Fogbow is owned by three American businessmen: Steven Fox, Robb Fipp and Brook Jerue. Fogbow's website lists the three men as its founders. Fox is also the founder of the corporate intelligence firm Veracity Worldwide, which is based in New York City, and where Jerue is a managing director. Fipp, formerly with Veracity, is in venture capital.

Screen grab from Fogbow's website. © France 24

Fox formerly worked for the State Department, specialising in Israeli and Palestinian affairs, among other regions, according to Fogbow’s website. Yet according to Eamon Javers’s “Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy,” a 2011 book about the secret world of corporate espionage, Fox also formerly worked for the CIA.

Mulroy said that Fox, Fipp and Jerue approached him and Hyslop in 2022 to put together an “international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief force to deliver aid to crisis-hit countries, devastated by natural disasters or war”.

That was the initial plan, until “all of a sudden Gaza started”.

“They shifted and said, ‘Can you guys look at what you could do right now in Gaza?’”

Details about Fogbow’s history and operations are scarce on its website, even as it promotes its work without citing examples of “executing complex logistical challenges delivering aid”.

Screen grab from Fogbow's website. © France 24

The site also says that Fogbow “supports the UN’s Connecting Business Initiative”. The UN initiative, however, told FRANCE 24 and PassBlue it had no dealings with Fogbow and had asked repeatedly for the claim to be removed from the organisation's website, without success.

Fogbow describes itself as a provider of humanitarian aid logistics. “We don't pretend to be a humanitarian organisation,” Hyslop said in the Zoom call with him and Mulroy, saying the firm operates merely as a “transporter”.

Hyslop told FRANCE 24 and PassBlue that funding for Fogbow’s movable pier plan would come from the Maritime Humanitarian Aid Foundation (MHAF), a Geneva- and US-based charity run by a former US diplomat, Cameron Hume, who is also an adviser for Veracity.

MHAF has secured funding commitments “in excess” of $50 million “as seed funding from donor governments”, Mulroy said.

“Based on Fogbow’s work under contract with the foundation, there is an expectation of securing significant additional funding from GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and other donors.”

Other top advisers at Veracity include Richard Dearlove, who was head of the British intelligence agency known as MI6 (a role known informally as "C”) from 1999 to 2004, including during the US/British invasion of Iraq.

Anatomy of a pier

Mulroy and Hyslop said that they went to the White House twice, in early 2024, to discuss their Blue Beach project. The meetings were set up by Curtis Ried, Chief of Staff of the US National Security Council and Assistant to Brett McGurk, Senior Advisor to the US President for Middle East Affairs. In May, Ried was promoted as the US representative to the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe), with the rank of ambassador. They said they also met with Terry Wolff, a retired three-star Army general.

President Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union address on March 7 that he was directing the US military to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean near Gaza to bring more food and other essentials into the Palestinian enclave.

The timing was urgent: Three senior UN officials warned the UN Security Council on February 27 of “imminent famine in the Gaza Strip”, pushing for “immediate action to avert humanitarian disaster in a territory where many Council members alleged the use of hunger as a weapon of war”.

But aid groups and others have insisted that the overland routes into Gaza blockaded by Israel’s military operation remain the best way to get aid into the enclave.

US Army Major Harrison Mann described the US jetty as a PR stunt, saying: “The pier and the airdrops look like they were intended to satisfy Americans who were concerned about the suffering of Palestinians, but I’m not sure what segment of the population both deeply cares about the welfare of Palestinians but is not engaged enough to see the failure of both the pier and the airdrop projects,” he told FRANCE 24 and PassBlue.

Major Mann was the first US military and intelligence officer to resign publicly over the Biden administration’s support of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Meanwhile, Fogbow was negotiating a role in the maritime route from Cyprus to Gaza. Fogbow tried to clinch contracts with USAID and the State Department, but they were unsuccessful – partly because the firm had no history of delivering aid in the region, according to government sources who did not want to speak on the record.

Stacy Gilbert, who spent over two decades working for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, said that maritime aid plans would do little to alleviate the suffering in Gaza.

“For people who know anything about humanitarian assistance, the US pier doesn't make any sense because the whole reason we are doing it is because our ally Israel is blocking humanitarian assistance,” she said, adding that the money used to build the pier could have been better spent.

Gilbert resigned from the Biden administration after a controversial report to which she contributed (the NSM-20 report released May 10) concluded that Israel was not obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza despite credible evidence to the contrary.

A USAID branch called the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance spearheads global aid in crisis situations, with a US government source saying, “When there’s an international disaster [it] is the lead – period.”

The source said that Fogbow’s lack of respect for the lead agency (USAID) and their lack of a track record reek of “profiteering”.

“When DoD is invited to support a response, then they can use the resources they have (such as ships) to speed things up. When it comes to working with a private firm like Fogbow it has to be contracted out by the DoD," the US government source told FRANCE 24 and PassBlue. "Typically, DoD lawyers would say no, unless it was for something specific to their needs like vessel recovery.”

Fogbow said it did make some of its leased tugboats available to support the US pier operation.

Avoiding pitfalls

In an email to PassBlue, Ann Wright, a member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a nongovernmental organisation that has been trying to sail aid into Gaza, was dubious about the role Fogbow is striving to play in the region. Wright served in the US Army and Reserves for 29 years as well as 16 years as a diplomat. She resigned in 2003 in opposition to the US war in Iraq.

“The fact that most of the Fogbow staff are retired US military and CIA officials definitely has a ‘smell to it’ of a US covert operation,” Wright wrote in her email.

Gilbert noted: “Humanitarian organizations use former military [experts] in various roles. I think what gives us pause is when the Department of Defence is contracting for work in humanitarian assistance that they (the military) should not be doing.”

In the interview with FRANCE 24 and PassBlue in late June, Hyslop took umbrage with assumptions about Fogbow’s motives simply because of its principals’ extensive CIA and military backgrounds.

“I've never heard any humanitarian ask Maersk or APL (logistics) or major global shippers if they have former military people on their staff,” Hyslop said on the Zoom call. “Of course they do. All their logisticians primarily come from world militaries and no questions are asked. But they're asked of us. And I understand it.”

“But I also ask for some understanding from the perspective of the humanitarians, and to give our boys a chance to explain that these are not active military people,” he added. “They've properly and respectfully served their countries and now they're bringing these skills now in support of the humanitarian community, not to take over in any way.”

Mulroy told PassBlue and FRANCE 24 that the firm plans to build the movable pier as outlined in the Blue Beach proposal: a $20 million structure with a crane that will be better adapted to rough seas than the US pier has been.

Fogbow’s offshore project would involve their ocean-going barges being pushed by tugs from the Larnaca port, carrying up to 150 truck-equivalent units.

The landing zone would bring an “additive route” to overland roads and be “impervious to weather conditions and wave heights”, Mulroy said, describing how the project would work. “It's essentially on the beach and it has sea breaks and all that stuff.”

There would be a “short quay wall” and a “dredged slot” that the barges can be pulled onto the beach. Then “the containers are just offloaded with no dock or causeway”, Mulroy said.

Fogbow emphasised that their design would avoid the technical problems encountered by the US military pier.

A Palestinian billionaire, Bashar al Masri, is in discussions about partnering with Fogbow for storage and distribution of aid, according to UN sources. Al Masri previously financed the reconstruction of the Gaza Industrial Estate after it was destroyed in Israel’s 11-day offensive on Gaza in 2021. Masri built the enclave’s first luxury hotel, called Blue Beach, which was near the spot where the US pier was constructed.

But a Gazan photographer, Mohammed Hajjar, who is based in the enclave, said that Al Masri is regarded with suspicion by the local population, “Most Gazans don’t know him. We don’t know his politics, his goals, what his political programme is. My opinion [is] he is not in a position to be part of any solutions in post-war Gaza.”

“He came to Gaza once and seemed interested in trade. All of his solutions were for-profit options.”

Salman Al-Zurai’i, a Palestinian researcher and policy analyst based in Gaza, said to FRANCE 24 and PassBlue about Al Masri: “I think that Al Masri – and generally the private sector – are going to play a large role in the day after the war in Gaza.”

“The involvement of the Palestinian private sector, local stakeholders and Gazan clans in running post-war Gaza implies that neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas will play a role, resulting in a political vacuum in Gaza,” he added.

“The Israelis want to prevent Palestinian political actors from participating in post-war Gaza; this is a major Israeli approach that has been ongoing for 17 years and led to cementing the political separation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”

The idea for a sea entry point into Gaza was floated by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in October 2023, according to The Jerusalem Post. It was not the first time Israel had proposed a floating island off the coast of Gaza purportedly to facilitate aid delivery.

Israeli media reported in March on Netanyahu’s post-war vision for the Gaza strip, known as “Gaza 2035”. The document, later published online by Netanyahu’s office (on May 3), promotes the idea that Gaza “can become a significant industrial production centre for the shores of the Mediterranean with … access to… energy and raw materials from the Gulf while leveraging Israeli technology”.

Image from Israeli PM Netanyahu's Gaza 2035 plan. © France 24

The plan would keep Gaza under Israeli control – and allow it to exploit the enclave’s offshore energy reserves, estimated at 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas – while an Arab Coalition (including the UAE and Saudi Arabia) would create a body called the Gaza Rehabilitation Authority to oversee the reconstruction efforts. The plan does not appear to give Palestinians any operative role.

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan denounced Netanyahu’s plans on X shortly after their release, making it clear that the Israeli PM had not consulted Abu Dhabi.

“The UAE stresses that the Israeli Prime Minister does not have the legal capacity to take this step, and the state refuses to be drawn into any plan aimed at providing cover for Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip,” the post read.
Fogbow eyes postwar reconstruction

Humanitarians expressed concern about the prospect of Fogbow playing a role in Gaza’s rebuilding once the war ends.

Jamie McGoldrick met with Fogbow three times earlier this year when he was the UN’s humanitarian aid coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, along with David Satterfield, then the US special envoy for the Middle East. McGoldrick said the firm was “not very transparent” about their intentions, including sources of funding – as Fogbow’s name, which means ghost rainbow, might suggest.

During a first meeting in February with McGoldrick and Satterfield, Fogbow’s representatives pitched a project not directly related to humanitarian assistance: a maritime corridor to be used for the reconstruction of Gaza. They said that the corridor could help with aid delivery if needed, but that was not its original purpose.

“What they told us about was this idea of having a supply route for reconstruction into Gaza because they saw an opportunity there – initially they were in conversations with Qatar then shifted to UAE for support,” McGoldrick said.

“They needed something like $300 million to set the whole thing up,” he added. “And they were looking for suitors, that was one of the reasons why I think they were in the room with Satterfield and others – to try and convince them to contribute to this or to be part of it.”

McGoldrick said that Fogbow’s operations in the region may be a way for the US to get into the Gaza reconstruction market.

A representative from the team of Sigrid Kaag, the US-backed senior UN humanitarian aid and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, was also in one of the meetings with Fogbow. Her team has not responded to our questions sent by email.

McGoldrick said that conversations about the future of Gaza are now under way: Will it go from “Mogadishu on the Med to Singapore on the Med or another Dubai?", he asked. UN officials calculate that Gaza’s postwar reconstruction could cost $30 to $40 billion, but no one is saying where the money will come from.

“I worked in many places” – including in Yemen – “where I came across these private firms,” McGoldrick added, referring to Fogbow.

“And, you know, they're not there for the human dimension of things, they’re there for profit,” he said. “American Navy SEALS, nice, shiny, connected politically and they have financial muscle behind them. You've always got to be suspicious of it.”

A model for post-war Gaza similar to the post-US invasion reconstruction operation in Iraq has been floated, McGoldrick noted. The US government official Paul Bremer ran the Coalition Provisional Authority after the 2003 US invasion and was unofficially governor of Baghdad. Both former British Prime Minister and Mideast Quartet negotiator Tony Blair – who has an office in Tel Aviv – and Kaag, who is also a former Dutch politician, have been name-dropped as possible main players in the post-reconstruction effort.

By using the Cyprus maritime corridor from Larnaca to the Gaza coast, prospectors could sideline “the Egyptians in Port Said.” Such a project, McGoldrick added, would create a channel “that’s controlled more by the Emirates and other Gulf countries who want to get a piece of Gaza”.

“The project could cut Palestinians out of the picture,” noted McGoldrick, as it “likely increases the separation of Gaza from the West Bank”.

“I think it's dangerous … because you want to create a settled environment there if you're going to have a prospect for peace for Gaza,” he said. “It's got to be Gaza for Gazans.”

*Name has been changed

GAZA BEACH FRONT PROPERTY

Opinion

Popcorn, cotton-candy and massages. Inside Israel’s new army ‘resort’ in northern Gaza

A new report by Israeli news outlet Ynet reveals a disturbing picture: as Palestinians in north Gaza face starvation and extermination, a nearby 'resort' has been established for Israeli soldiers to relax and unwind in between their deployment.

By Jonathan Ofir 

 December 25, 2024
MONDOWEISS
Standing next to a popcorn machine, Israeli soldiers make cotton candy inside an army ‘resort’ for soldiers in north Gaza. (Via Ynet News)


As human rights organizations amass reports on Israel committing genocide in Gaza, Israeli society is producing a wall of denial, separating itself from the catastrophic reality in Gaza. Nothing is more evident of that than a new report of a seawater desalination plant doubling as an Israeli army ‘resort’ in Gaza.

On Monday, Israeli news website Ynet published a piece in Hebrew by their military correspondent Yoav Zeitoun, titled “Desalination facility and holiday resort with café; Documentation: This is how IDF [Israeli military] is preparing for prolonged stay in Gaza”.

Zeitoun, who was embedded with the military, visited the resort, which is located near the beach in the western part of north Gaza. Though the exact location of the ‘resort’ is not revealed, Zeitoun does mention Jabalia – the area in north Gaza where Israel has launched a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign in recent months – as being nearby.

Photos and videos reveal the inside of this new ‘resort’ for soldiers: popcorn machines next to a cotton-candy machine, PlayStation video games, a lounge with a “hotel” breakfast, and meat on the grill. Elsewhere, a physiotherapist even gives massages.
Reality check

The whole piece is a big celebration. But here is where we should start making some reality checks, out from this Israeli bubble.

First, the desalination facility is huge. It produces 60,000 liters of water per day, enough for the soldiers to have clean drinking water and take showers.

This stands in start contrast to the recent Human Rights Watch report on Israel’s “extermination and acts of genocide”, which focused mostly on water. The report noted how, while Israelis consume about 250 liters of water per day (about 66 Gallons), Gazans today are forced to consume about 2 to 9 liters per day.

Because of the genocide, Palestinains in Gaza are forced to literally drink the sea, and dehydrated mothers feed their infants baby-formula with poisonous water. “When we cannot get drinking water, taking a shower is a dream”, said a woman cited in the report.

But why should the soldiers in the resort care at all? The desalination facility can produce fresh water which can suffice over 240 Israelis who each consume about 50 times more water than the average starved, dehydrated Gazans.

Imagine if the Israelis invested in such facilities for the Gazans, rather than blowing up their water reservoirs. But they don’t care about that, despite it being their obligation to suffice the basic needs of the occupied population.
A bubble in a concentration camp

In the report, the journalist Zeitoun laments that the soldiers cannot go down to the beach.

“The murmur of the waves is well heard in the nearby beach, but IDF does not permit the soldiers to go down to it, and a pyramid of mounds separates between the unusual compound and the Gazan beach strip,” he writes.

Admittedly, though not critically, he notes that the soldiers are living in a bubble:

“Nonetheless, the scenery of the sea and the calm atmosphere do theirs, completing the bubble-like sense”, Zeitoun writes.

The resort provides military companies (usually around two hundred soldiers) a resort day every ten days, in circulation. A military logistics officer describes it to Zeitoun:

“As each company finishes this refreshment day, which they get every 10 days on average, they return in the night to rest in their combat area in Jabalia, and continue refreshed in their combat missions… As the company completes its day of fun in this compound, we clean it and set it up anew in the night, preparing it for the company that will arrive the next day, and so forth. Just like a conveyor belt”.

It’s about making people forget they’re in Gaza. The officer continues:

“You remember that you are in Gaza, yes? We give a feeling of home, with ice-coffee, espresso, protein drinks, toast and Shakshukas in various flavors for breakfast, and of course also fruit and ice cream when the weather is warm. We make dreams come true for the soldiers”.

While the soldiers’ dreams are coming true, having cappuccinos and grilling meat, Palestinians in Gaza are living in famine-like conditions.

Two days ago, I talked with my friend Ditte, just before the demonstration against the Israeli genocide, in Copenhagen. She updated me about her beloved Fadi in Deir al-Balah, she said he managed to get some meat to eat just the other day – it was the first time in 4 months, and he was ecstatic about it. He never complains, she says, despite living in a tent and now freezing in the night.
‘Zone of Interest‘

But it is not merely the soldiers who need to dream – it is the Israeli population at large. When Orly Noy, chair of B’tselem and journalist, shared a post about this horrendous piece on her Facebook page yesterday, several commentators were drawn to associations with the film Zone of Interest, a film from last year which focused on a family of Nazis living right against the walls of Auschwitz, in their own bubble of normalcy.

In response to the Ynet piece, Noy published a piece in the Local Call publication , titled “Sweet cotton-candy at the heart of the valley of killings.” She writes:

“Thus, soldiers sit in the valley of killings, grilling meat in stands that work non-stop, and do not know where the smell of burnt meat that fills their nostrils originates from – whether it is from the carcasses of the animals that were brought there for them, or from bodies of the people in whose beach they may not wade.”

But this is arguably even worse than “Zone of Interest”, because the soldiers are not outside of the concentration camp – but inside it. That Gaza is a concentration camp has been said for decades. Now, with Israel’s systematic extermination, it is indeed an extermination camp. The bubble is surrounded with death from all sides.

The Ynet piece is reminiscent of another report from February this year, published by Haaretz. The piece was a feel-good story about how soldiers make food from goods that they steal from Palestinian private kitchens, in homes that they stole.

In that wretched and crass piece, the authors sought futilely to provoke moral righteousness, noting that while they occupied and looted the homes of the Gazans they displaced, the soldiers nonetheless cooked “with mixed feelings”.

But it would appear that Zeitoun and Ynet’s piece goes even beyond that. There is no attempt to assuage any guilt that the soldiers may have. There are no mixed feelings.

There are in fact, no feelings at all for the Palestinians, who just next to the resort, are starving and drinking dirty water. The Palestinians simply do not exist in the entirety of the piece, not even as a reflection.

The total absence of Palestinians from the narrative, who are undergoing a genocide committed by the soldiers at this resort, reveals the reality of where Israeli society now exists. This is the conceptual preparation for the Israelis who are now at the next stage of their colonization of Palestine.

It is the conceptualization that Gazans do not exist. It is a land without a people, for the Israelis who always need more land.
Permanent presence in Gaza

Towards the end of his piece, Zeitoun is pushing the idea that the resort also serves the purpose of normalizing a permanent Israeli presence in Gaza, as is also indicated in the title.

“It does not seem as if the forces will move out of [Jabalia], and it’s already clear that we are not speaking of a mere raid, which is a short-term military operation that includes entry and exit from enemy territory,” he writes.

“In the gigantic separation corridor of Netzarim [Wadi Gaza, about 2.5 miles wide cutting Northern Gaza off from east to west] as well as the Philadelphi route [in the south, separating Gaza and Egypt], the IDF has already built similar refreshment facilities, which include also pedicure stations to treat soldiers’ feet, but not at such scope and level as in this new “holiday resort”.”

As Palestinians Starve and Freeze, Israeli Troops Unwind at Gaza 'Beachfront Resort'

Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down security line at San Francisco International Airport

Noah Goldberg
Wed, March 13, 2024 

The road in front of the international terminal sits empty at San Francisco International Airport on April 2, 2020. Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked off a security line at the airport Wednesday morning. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Pro-Palestinian protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war blocked off a security line at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday morning.

More than two dozen protesters linked arms and blocked the entrance to the airport's G gates, photos from the scene show. The protesters held a Palestinian flag with the words "Permanent Ceasefire" written on it.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that there were "as many as 200" protesters and that they were also blocking the A gates. Some protested outside the airport as well.

The airport continued operations.

"There is a protest in the International Terminal," the airport said in a post on the social media site X. "The terminal remains open. Passengers are being re-routed around the activity."

The airport also recommended that travelers get dropped off at the Kiss and Fly lot at the Rental Car Center and take the AirTrain as opposed to trying to arrive directly at the International Terminal curb.

"We do not want to be here. We are forced to be here because we have lost count of the petitions we've sent, the emails we've sent, of the meetings we've had with our congresspeople, of the days we've marched through the streets begging our government to hear the millions of voices for cease-fire," said one protester, in a video shared by reporter Dena Takruri.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.


SFO protest over Gaza creates chaos at airport

Tom Vacar
Wed, March 13, 2024 

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco International Airport was the site of a demonstration by pro-Palestinian protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza who showed up in force on Wednesday morning, and despite the noise and chaos, flights still took off on time.

A group called Critical Resistance showed up at SFO about 8:30 a.m. and members held a big black banner that read "Stop the World for Gaza" in front of the TSA security line for the A Gates at the international terminal.

Activists also locked arms with each other, blocking Gate G at Terminal 1. Others marched in a circle on the road outside the airport, and still others chanted and spoke inside the building. Organizer Joshua Caldwell said about 300 protesters gathered.

Organizers said the protest lasted 153 minutes, one minute for each day the Israel-Hamas war has lasted. Oddly enough, much of the international terminal remained open for food items and restrooms.

The demonstrators all cleared out by noon and there was no immediate word of arrests.

Several travelers were disturbed by the commotion.

"It's not right," Kamaljit Singh said. "It's inconvenient. "If they want attention, they should march at the White House."

"I think it's a good way to demonstrate your viewpoint on Gaza, but, stopping other people from traveling I don't think is the way to do that," said traveler Preston Peeler.

SFO spokesman Doug Yakel said passengers were being re-routed to avoid the protest.

Travelers seeking to reach the international terminal were encouraged by SFO to get dropped off at the rental car center and take an air train to the terminal.

Protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza held a demonstration at San Francisco International Airport on March 13, 2024. Photo: Critical Resistance(KTVU FOX 2)

Other passengers traveling by taxis or rideshare services should get picked up or dropped off at domestic terminals, SFO said.

Yakel said the protesters were peaceful.

"The protest leaders we worked with held true to the commitments that they made when they said they were going to finish their activity at a certain time. And, that does require coordination, it does require negotiation. We certainly implemented some alternate plans to get our passengers where they needed to go around this protest activity," Yakel said.

The protest had also not caused any delays to BART service at SFO, the transit agency said.

By about 10 a.m., police had arrived with buses but had not yet been seen arresting anyone, although officers were seen writing tickets to illegally parked cars and towing them away. Caldwell said participants were glad that nobody was arrested and that the group felt it had support for its actions from some travelers.

By noon, the chanting had stopped and the protesters had all disbursed. Caldwell said the decision to disperse was made for the safety of protesters, but not because of any specific threat.

Caldwell said the protesters were Bay Area residents who were not part of any organization or group besides their shared motivation to call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.

There have been protests around the nation and the Bay Area over the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7.

A massive protest occurred on the Bay Bridge in November 2023 when hundreds of Pro-Palestine protesters tied up traffic during rush hour, calling out to world leaders to end the war during the APEC summit when President Biden was in town.

Bay City News contributed to this report.


A woman bangs a drum and speaks in a megaphone at SFO during a Gaza protest. March 14, 2024


Police cars and tow trucks wait outside SFO during Gaza protest. March 13, 2024


Protesters take over SFO to demande a ceasefire in Gaza. March 13, 2024

Ceasefire protests at SFO March 13, 2024.

After pro-Palestinian events, protesters will face new restrictions in Miami Beach

Aaron Leibowitz
Wed, March 13, 2024 

The Miami Beach City Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to support a resolution by Mayor Steven Meiner for the city to set “parameters for reasonable time, place and manner restrictions” for protests, pointing to several pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city in recent months.

The resolution also calls for police to inform elected officials of all protests planned in the city within one hour of police learning a protest is expected to occur.

It comes two days after police directed pro-Palestinian protesters to a “free speech zone” near the Aspen Ideas climate conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center, saying they could not stand directly outside the event’s entrance for security reasons.

READ MORE: Gaza war protesters told to use ‘free speech zone’ outside Miami Beach climate conference

To support his proposal, Meiner cited pro-Palestinian protests at which he claimed “our laws have been violated.” During a public comment period, the mayor cut off one speaker who referred to the Israeli government’s war in Gaza as a “genocide” and suggested that Meiner’s proposal was aimed at restricting free speech related to Israel.

“I‘m not going to sit here and allow you to make accusations about the Israeli government,” Meiner said, calling the statements “antisemitic.”

Several speakers said they believed the proposal was aimed at speech that city officials find objectionable.

The U.S. Supreme Court has said governments can limit the time, place and manner of speech if it serves a significant government interest and is “content neutral” and “narrowly tailored.”

Meiner’s item Wednesday calls for the city to create restrictions in order to “regulate and control future protests and demonstrations to the fullest extent permitted by law.” The resolution does not refer to pro-Palestinian protests or any specific types of demonstrations.

The details of the city’s regulations on protests have not yet been determined by city staff.

Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside of Art Basel at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Dec. 8, 2023.

Mayor cites protest at synagogue

At Wednesday’s meeting, Meiner showed video clips of pro-Palestinian demonstrators protesting a speech late last month by lawyer Alan Dershowitz at Temple Emanu-El in Miami Beach. In one clip from outside the synagogue, elderly people are seen crossing the street and walking through a group of protesters chanting and holding signs on a sidewalk.

“As mayor, I will not tolerate our residents being harassed and accosted and threatened for simply trying to pray,” Meiner said, comparing the images to “Nazi Germany.” There were no reports of protesters causing physical harm to synagogue members.

Commissioner David Suarez said he believed the video showed an insufficient police presence outside the synagogue protecting its members and suggested that Police Chief Wayne Jones’ handling of the incident was “grounds for firing.”

“If that was a KKK rally, it would have been different,” Suarez said.

He added that, as someone who is half Israeli and one of four Jewish elected officials in Miami Beach, including Meiner, he found it “concerning” that they were not notified of the protest.

Jones was sworn in as the first Black police chief of Miami Beach in August. In response to Suarez’s comments, Jones said he should have informed elected officials of the protest ahead of time but defended the policing of the event. He said there were 22 police officers present, including four inside the synagogue who removed three protesters who interrupted Dershowitz’s speech.

Those three people said they had obtained tickets to the event, as previously reported by the Miami Herald. Video showed one of the protesters being physically attacked by a man inside. Jones said during Wednesday’s meeting that the protester was “battered by a congregant,” though no charges have been filed.

READ MORE: Protesters forcibly removed from Miami Beach temple hosting Alan Dershowitz, one attacked

After Meiner’s resolution was approved, multiple members of the public said they disagreed with the way Suarez had spoken to the police chief. Miami Beach resident Carla Probus said she supports the Israeli government but was troubled by the conversation.

“It is a constitutional right to be able to speak,” Probus said. “We’ve got to stop the bullying. It’s out of control.”

Jones told the Herald in a statement after Wednesday’s discussion that “as the chief of police and a former resident of Miami Beach, I emphasize my unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of every resident in our city, including our valued Jewish community.”

“Upholding the provisions of the U.S. Constitution and prioritizing the protection of all who live, work and visit in our city remains my top priorities,” he said.
Previous concerns about pro-Palestinian protest

In December, Meiner had raised concerns about a pro-Palestinian protest outside the Convention Center during Art Basel, at which a group of artists unfurled a banner that read, “Let Palestine Live.” About 100 people rallied while waving Palestinian flags and holding signs to call for a permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

During that event, Miami Beach police tried to keep protesters away from Convention Center doors. Police arrested two protesters and charged one with resisting without violence and the other with resisting without violence and disorderly conduct.

READ MORE: Artists and activists stage pro-Palestinian protest in front of Art Basel Miami Beach

Miami Beach police try to keep pro-Palestinian protesters away from the Miami Beach Convention Center doors at a protest during Art Basel on Dec. 8, 2023.

Days later, Meiner sponsored an item on the City Commission agenda in which he pointed out that protesters were chanting the controversial phrase, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The mayor’s item called for the city to set “parameters for reasonable time, place and manner restrictions for protests, including discussion of incitement to violence vs. free speech.”

Meiner never called that item for discussion by the City Commission. It was retooled without any reference to specific pro-Palestinian protests in Wednesday’s resolution.

“This is a nonpartisan government,” Meiner said Wednesday. “Clearly, we are respectful of free speech.”

Aaron Leibowitz, Ashley Miznazi
Wed, March 13, 2024 

When a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters arrived to the Miami Beach Convention Center on Monday evening, hoping to hand out flyers to attendees of the Aspen Ideas climate conference, they were surprised to be met by police.

They say officers told them that only conference attendees could enter the area around the Convention Center, with one exception: a barricaded “free speech zone” for protesters at the southwest corner of Pride Park.

Members of the group, however, say the zone is too far away from the conference entrance for most attendees to see or hear them.

“We were surrounded by cops. The most people who would’ve seen us there would be the odd man out trying to get their car in the Meridian [Avenue] garage,” said Glory Jones, a protester with Jewish Voice for Peace, referring to a nearby parking garage. “By having borders to where we speak, you’re essentially saying there’s certain zones that free speech doesn’t apply, that the Constitution doesn’t apply.”

A “security zone” around the Convention Center campus was set up at some point Monday afternoon, hours after the conference began that morning. Similar security zones were not in place during the first two years of the conference in 2022 and 2023, except when Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the conference last year and roads were closed off by the Secret Service.

Miami Beach police set up the perimeter to provide security for “high-level officials and other attendees,” including “federal cabinet level officials, a U.S. governor, foreign dignitaries, and over 50 United States mayors,” police spokesperson Christopher Bess said in a statement Monday night. He did not respond to an inquiry about why a different approach was taken for this year’s conference.

Speakers at this week’s event include U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Lauren Sánchez, vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund. The conference runs through Wednesday.

Only credentialed attendees can enter the security zone around the Convention Center campus, said Bess, “except for those who wish to exercise their First Amendment right to protest, demonstrate, or leaflet.”

“A demonstration zone has been created within Pride Park to provide a forum to exercise those rights,” he said.

Police said the pro-Palestinian protesters could stand in an area at the southwest end of Pride Park, which remained surrounded by barricades Tuesday. The group said it would have been too far away from the conference entrance at the Miami Beach Convention Center (left) for most attendees to see or hear them.

Bess added that demonstrators are also “free to speak to and interact with all convention attendees at the entrance to the Security Zone, through which all credentialed attendees must pass.”

That is ultimately what approximately two dozen pro-Palestinian protesters decided to do Monday, standing in front of a parking garage on 17th Street near Convention Center Drive rather than utilizing the designated protest zone in Pride Park.


On Tuesday morning, conference organizers sent attendees an update, telling them to enter from 17th Street “due to road closures” and to “wear your badge at all times.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters moved to the sidewalk across from the 17th Street parking garage after being told by police they couldn’t stand outside the Miami Beach Botantical Garden across from a climate conference at the Convention Center.

The U.S. Supreme Court has said that governments can limit the time, place and manner of speech if it serves a significant government interest and is “content neutral” and “narrowly tailored.”

Thomas Julin, a First Amendment attorney with the Gunster law firm in Miami, said the constitutionality of free speech zones depends on the specific circumstances. Governments can’t limit speech based on the type of message protesters are espousing, he said, and shouldn’t interfere with their ability to communicate with people they are hoping to reach. Julin also said cutting off the ability to protest on public streets and sidewalks is typically difficult to defend.

Concerns would arise if the restrictions “are actually very content- or speaker-specific, and [police] are just doing things because the [city] officials disagree with the content of the speech,” Julin said.

Mayor wants to regulate protests

Some of the city’s elected officials, including Mayor Steven Meiner, previously raised concerns about a pro-Palestinian protest outside the Convention Center during Art Basel in December.

Days after the Dec. 8 protest, Meiner sponsored an item on the City Commission agenda in which he pointed out that protesters were chanting the controversial phrase, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The mayor’s item called for the city to set “parameters for reasonable time, place and manner restrictions for protests, including discussion of incitement to violence vs. free speech.”

At a virtual meeting with residents in January, Meiner said he was “upset” that the protest was allowed to take place directly outside the Convention Center entrance. A group of artists unfurled a banner that read, “Let Palestine Live,” and about 100 people rallied while waving Palestinian flags and holding signs to call for a permanent ceasefire in the ongoing war in Gaza.

During that event, Miami Beach police tried to keep protesters away from Convention Center doors. Police arrested two protesters and charged one with resisting without violence and the other with resisting without violence and disorderly conduct.

Meiner never called the December item for discussion by city commissioners. But he is now sponsoring a resolution on the agenda for Wednesday’s City Commission meeting that calls for the city to create “time, place and manner restrictions” in order to “regulate and control future protests and demonstrations to the fullest extent permitted by law.” The resolution does not refer to pro-Palestinian protests or any specific types of demonstrations.

The mayor’s resolution also calls for police to inform him and city commissioners of all protests planned in the city within one hour of police learning a protest is expected to occur.

In December, Commissioner David Suarez raised concerns that police didn’t tell elected officials about the pro-Palestinian protest outside Art Basel until the day before it was set to take place. Suarez emailed City Manager Alina Hudak to say that “the failure to provide us with this information when it first came to the administration’s attention is very disappointing.”

Miami Beach police did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether the demonstration zone at the Aspen conference was implemented in response to concerns from elected officials. Meiner and his chief of staff, Veronica Coley, did not respond to requests for comment.

Miami Herald staff writer Alex Harris contributed to this report.

Ashley Miznazi is a climate change reporter for the Miami Herald funded by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners.