Genocide scholar blasts Trump’s Gaza plan as ‘Classic genocidal white man’s colonialism’

US President Donald Trump has declared to the entire world that he intends to commit a war crime in Gaza by expelling its Palestinian population, according to a prominent genocide scholar. Trump’s remarks were made “without any conscience or compassion, as if the Palestinian people, including hundreds of thousands of children, don’t mean anything to him,” said Maung Zarni, a renowned genocide scholar, educator and human rights activist, speaking to Anadolu.

Trump first made the comments during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited Washington last week despite a warrant from the International Criminal Court seeking his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Dismissing fierce condemnation from world leaders, rights activists and legal experts, Trump has doubled down on his controversial proposal, telling reporters on Sunday that the US remains “committed to buying and owning Gaza.”

For Zarni, Trump’s idea is an advance declaration that he is going “to commit a war crime.”

“Outrageously, Trump presented his proposal to deport the entire population of Palestinians into other countries without having any sovereign jurisdiction over them,” he said, describing the absurdity of the plan. He stressed that Trump’s proposal is not only illegal, but also a continuation of historical colonialist policies rooted in white supremacist ideologies.

Furthermore, he criticised Trump’s framing of the idea as a so-called humanitarian effort. “He presented that proposal as if it was out of his humanitarian heart.” It wasn’t, he added, it was a cynical attempt to justify ethnic cleansing.

Zarni argued that Trump’s declaration of intent regarding Gaza should trigger an immediate response from the international community, particularly the UN Security Council.

“Under international humanitarian and criminal law, you cannot remove the population under occupation,” he explained, referring to the fact that Palestinians have been under Israeli occupation for nearly six decades now. No matter how “powerful and imperial” the US may be, it is still part of the UN system and bound by international laws and agreements, he pointed out.

“The US is still a member of the Security Council. At the very least, the Council should be holding an emergency meeting to discuss why the head of a member state, particularly a permanent member state, is blatantly declaring his intent to commit a war crime.”

READ: Israel companies add legal package to travel insurance for soldiers fearing risk of arrest

Zarni also linked Trump’s comments to a broader shift in global politics, warning of the dangers posed by rising authoritarianism and oligarchic rule in the US. He argued that the current political climate in the US, dominated by billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, is creating a society that is even more dangerous than the former Soviet Union.

“This… completely insane and criminal mind of Donald Trump, supported by guys like Musk, Zuckerberg and others, makes the US far worse than the former USSR,” he claimed. Zarni asserted further that while the USSR “never threatened the entire welfare of the world,” Trump and the powerful oligarchic forces backing him pose an existential threat not only to American democracy, but also to global stability.

“Trump and the oligarchical Cabinet that he has assembled pose the greatest threat to the American people, American democracy, and as far as I’m concerned, to people around the world,” he warned. “And Palestinians are being made an example of this.”

The genocide scholar also placed Trump’s Gaza plan within the broader historical context of European imperialism, drawing parallels to the colonial era when European powers forcibly displaced indigenous populations and plundered resources.

“We are being dragged back 100 plus years into the past,” said Zarni, emphasising how Trump’s policies reflect a resurgence of colonialist ideology. “Israel is allowed to behave as if the world is stuck in the 19th century, where white men came and plundered any resources of value, moved populations, committed atrocities and took over land… That is precisely what Israel has been doing since the proclamation of the Israeli state in 1948.”

Zarni added that the recent escalation of Israeli aggression, combined with Trump’s statements, marks the “blatant revival of Western white supremacist imperialism” at the expense of millions of Palestinian people. “This is classic genocidal white man’s colonialism. That is why many of us from former colonies of European powers identify with the Palestinian people, and we will do everything in our power to stand up for them.”

According to Zarni, Trump’s declaration is not an isolated incident but rather a continuation of the long history of colonial expansion and land grabs by the United States.

“Trump has declared that the US wants control of Canada, the Panama Canal, Greenland and now Gaza. Maybe later, he will claim other countries, or even Mars, Venus and Jupiter.” He argued that this expansionist ideology is deeply embedded in American history. “US history is a history of colonial expansion, of controlling land, people and populations through violence since the early 17th century.”

Zarni contended that Israel represents the latest iteration of this colonial project, comparing it to other settler-colonial states. “This is not simply about Trump thinking criminally. From the perspective of the US and any other settler colony in the world, Israel is the latest white supremacist land-grabbing settler colony.” He urged people to view Trump’s statements within this historical context.

“We don’t need to get into Trump’s mind to understand how he thinks,” said the scholar. “The 300-year history of the US speaks volumes about how these white supremacist land thieves view the rest of the world.”

OPINION: Trump and the Era of Chaos