Ofir Akunis to Newsmax: Europeans Back Egypt's Failing Gaza Plan

Four European countries are backing Egypt's plan for rebuilding Gaza, but Ofir Akunis, the consul general for Israel in New York, told Newsmax Sunday that the plan is set up for failure.

"The Europeans have failed time after time," Akunis said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend." "First of all, they failed about themselves, and now they want us to fail."

Saturday, foreign ministers from France, Germany, Italy, and Britain supported the Arab-backed plan, which avoids displacing Palestinians from Gaza.

Egypt's proposal has been rejected by Israel and President Donald Trump, who has presented a vision of turning the Gaza Strip into a "Middle East Riviera" but would displace Palestinians from the region.

Egypt's plan includes creating a committee of Palestinian technocrats to govern Gaza after the war ends between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas, and would fall under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority.

But Akunis insisted Sunday that the Palestinian Authority "will not be in the Gaza Strip anymore … because they are paying for terrorists. They encourage them to hit the people of Israel."

Hamas, he added, "took Gaza from the Palestinian Authority, not from Israel," which had withdrawn from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

"Then during the summer of 2007, they killed the Palestinian Authority officers," said Akunis. "Hamas killed them, murdered them, butchered them, and they took over the Gaza Strip. All of these things are facts."

The Palestinian Authority also required that children be taught to hate Jews, he pointed out.

Until they change their attitude toward Israel, the "Palestinian Authority will not be in the Gaza Strip," said Akunis. "The president of the United States supports our attitudes and not the Europeans' attitude, as you know."

Meanwhile, he said he does not think the Arab nations are hesitating on the American plan over religion, but because they don't want the Hamas terrorists in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other nations.

"They must be disarmed, first of all," said Akunis. "That's what we said in the first week of the war, when they invaded Israel on Oct. 7."

Meanwhile, Trump has warned Hamas to release all hostages it took and return the bodies of those who have been killed, and Akunis said he has changed the posture of the United States.

"I think it was Nov. 6 or 7 that he said he will put Hamas under pressure instead [of putting] Israel under pressure," he said. "That was a major mistake by the previous administration."

Akunis added that he believes that at least 80% of Israelis admire Trump.

"I don't want to talk about the Israeli media," he said. "I will talk about the Israeli citizens. They saw the emotional pictures from the Oval Office two weeks ago, people who just left the dungeons in the Gaza Strip two weeks ago to find themselves in the Oval Office, the most important office in the world. So we thank President Trump."

He also commended Trump for freezing $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University and threatened other universities if they do not take steps to prevent antisemitic actions and protests.

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