Former National Security Advisor John Bolton sharply criticized former President Donald Trump’s proposal for a U.S.-led postwar occupation of Gaza, calling the idea unrealistic and dangerous. Bolton, a longtime foreign policy hawk, made his remarks during an appearance on CNN’s The Source on Thursday.

Trump’s unexpected comments came during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. The former president declared that “the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” pledging to “own it” and oversee the removal of unexploded bombs, level the area, and reconstruct it.

Bolton, who served in the Trump administration but has since been a vocal critic of the former president’s foreign policy decisions, dismissed the idea of U.S. control over Gaza as both impractical and untenable.

“There are really two issues here,” Bolton said. “The first is, what’s the U.S. role going to be postwar in Gaza? I don’t think it will look anything like what Trump suggested on Tuesday night. I don’t think there’d be any support for it. It’d be very dangerous in the circumstances. He doesn’t want to put troops in, which wouldn’t be advisable anyway.”

Bolton also weighed in on the broader question of a potential two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, a debate that has reignited amid the ongoing conflict.

CNN host Kaitlan Collins pressed Bolton on how a national security advisor should respond to Trump’s proposal. “If you’re the national security advisor now, though, and Trump tells you that’s what he wants the U.S. to do – to occupy Gaza after this war is over, you say?” she asked.

“The only thing you can say when you’re talking to him privately that way is, ‘Well, have you considered the following considerations?’” Bolton replied. He outlined several key concerns, including the extensive security requirements needed for such an operation, the likelihood of terrorist attacks, and the near impossibility of securing private investment in an unstable region.

“Remember the saying, capital is a coward,” Bolton said. “You’re not going to get private investment in a highly politically risky, non-secure situation. You have to get security before you get the investment. That’s why this whole idea of the Eastern Mediterranean Riviera is just utterly unrealistic.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)