Trump's Gaza Riviera AI video was satire, claims creator

Trump’s Gaza Riviera AI video was satire, claims creator

The creator behind the AI-generated video which presents the Gaza Strip as a resort has said it was meant to be a politically satirical take on Trump’s vision for Gaza, The Guardian reported on March 6th.

The video, posted by US President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account, showed the president drinking cocktails with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on sun loungers and Elon Musk eating flatbread with a dip.

LA-based film-maker and creator of the video, Solo Avital, said: “We are storytellers, we’re not provocateurs, we sometimes do satire pieces such as this one was supposed to be. This is the duality of the satire: it depends what context you bring to it to make the punchline or the joke. Here there was no context and it was posted without our consent or knowledge.”

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Previously, the Palestinian digital media platform, Sahat, released a counter-video in response to the AI-generated video, The New Arab reported on February 28th.

Sahat’s counter-video, captioned “A message to #Trump: #Gaza will always be Palestinian!”, was met with hundreds of comments from users commending the new take on Trump’s proposals.

The alternative video, posted on X, showed refurbished streets, a vibrant seaport, busy markets, and a society that has been reshaped. In one particular scene, imprisoned figures that resembled the US president and Netanyahu are shown as criminals, wearing orange jumpsuits behind bars. In another scene, Palestinians seemingly return to their homeland.

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At face value, the original AI video reportedly promoted Trump’s controversial plan to redevelop the Gaza Strip into a luxury tourist attraction, under US control, forcibly displacing millions of Palestinians. In the original video, viewers saw a huge statue of Trump, bearded belly dancers and Musk throwing wads of money over crowds of applauding locals or tourists.

Medical Aid for Palestinians has said that Trump’s plan amounts to ethnic cleansing.

The New Arab, Medical Aid For Palestinians, The Guardian