AI-Generated Gaza Resort Video Draws Fire
Former US President Donald Trump has ignited controversy with a new AI-generated video envisioning the Gaza Strip as a futuristic luxury resort. Shared on both Instagram and his Truth Social platform, the video depicts a transformed Gaza, complete with palm-lined streets, gilded Trump-branded buildings, and high-end entertainment, drawing severe criticism.
The video features surreal elements, including a giant gold statue of Trump himself, belly dancers, and AI-generated lookalikes of Elon Musk and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sunbathing. Critics have described the vision as erasing the territory’s current destruction and suffering while proposing an American-led redevelopment project.
“The video is quite telling of how President Trump sees Gaza and the possible destruction of Gaza. It has so many elements that need to be analysed carefully”, said Alessandro Accorsi, senior analyst for Technology and Conflict at the International Crisis Group.
Concerns Over Displacement and Real Estate Deal
The controversy surrounding the AI-generated video extends beyond its unrealistic portrayal of Gaza. Trump’s past suggestions that the US could take control of the Palestinian territory, based on its prime location, have raised concerns. Reportedly, his administration held discussions with real estate developers about rebuilding Gaza. Experts view this as an indication of an underlying plan.
Experts, such as Accorsi, caution that the video promotes displacing Gaza’s existing population. Such an action would violate international law and be widely condemned as ethnic cleansing.
“It really leans into a narrative that has been used many times by the extreme right-wing, for example, in Israel, that presents Palestine as a land of desert and people living in caves without Israel’s influence. At the beginning of the video, we see Palestinians coming out of a cave,” explained Accorsi.
Accorsi, whose work involves examining cyber, electronic, and information warfare, further noted:
The video “shows that President Trump sees the issue of Gaza and its reconstruction as a real estate deal, which takes away any agency from the Palestinians themselves.
“The fact that he’s by the side of a pool with Prime Minister Netanyahu shows this. The idea is that Palestinians will be either displaced temporarily or that Israel will assume control of the Gaza Strip. It doesn’t deal with any of the real issues that we see today,” Accorsi said.
“It’s a narrative that tries to tell a multi-dimensional story, a very complex one, in a very unilateral and unidimensional way. It forgets the occupation, it forgets the blockade of Gaza, it forgets the responsibilities of Israel”, he added
Insensitivity and Propaganda Accusations
Beyond political implications, the video’s insensitivity towards Gaza’s current suffering has drawn intense criticism. The ongoing conflict has devastated the territory, leading to tens of thousands of deaths, widespread destruction, and a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Many social media users expressed outrage at the spectacle of a luxury resort fantasy amid such widespread destruction, calling it a grotesque trivialization of human suffering.
Some noted the video’s propagandistic elements, such as the oversized Trump statue, and compared it to historical instances of leaders using spectacle to justify controversial policies.
“This kind of thing, which is obviously nonsense, fits into a much longer campaign and effort to portray what is happening today in Gaza as a consequence of 7 October. It erases at least 60 years, if not 100 years, of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and what came before”, explained Accorsi.
Palestinian leaders and human rights organizations have previously condemned the portrayal of Gaza as a blank slate for development while its population endures hardship. The UN has consistently emphasized that forcibly relocating Palestinians from their land is illegal under international law.
