Surveillance City-State: A Plan for Gaza’s Future

President Donald Trump’s proposal for razing and rebuilding Gaza is being hailed by some America First conservatives as another in a line of bold moves which benefit our country, like incorporating Greenland and restoring the Panama Canal. To them, the proposal showcases American free-market can-do and know-how in the hands of a businessman who can succeed where deep state diplomats failed. Glenn Beck exuberantly predicted that, “Thanks to Trump, you could plan your honeymoon destination on the Gaza Strip.” Steve Bannon, while firmly and consistently stating that he wanted America to have nothing to do with Gaza, praised Trump for thinking “outside the universe” with the idea.

But original America First policymaking is not what the project really represents—whether it’s undertaken by America or a coalition of Arab states to prevent America’s proposed involvement in the region. Looking closer at its actual blueprint, the scholarly article written by Joseph Pelzman, whose ties to Washington and Israeli operators I reported on in a recent piece for the Libertarian Institute, shows that it’s both unoriginal and frightening—and exactly what America First is set up to oppose.

At bottom, what is on offer is an often-used model of government-backed racketeering that makes a mockery of Pelzman’s regular references to “approach[ing]” the “problem” of Gaza using a “purely economic perspective,” “focusing narrowly on the investment solution to a failed experiment,” and treating Gaza as a “post-bankruptcy situation.” And this racket goes beyond normal government-incentivized real estate corruption in cities—unless that corruption is happening in the People’s Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, or Qatar.

Read more at The Libertarian Institute.