A UNITED States (US) lawmaker, Al Green, is planning to file impeachment articles against President Donald Trump, citing the president’s decision to take over Gaza as the reason.
Green’s move marks another chapter in the long-standing controversy surrounding Trump’s presidency and policies in less than 20 days he took over power.
It also adds to the crises he faced before and after clinching the presidency. He was accused and charged by his predecessor – Joe Biden’s government. Though he was convicted, he escaped jail.
Two courts have blocked one of his decisions – birthright citizenship – and he faces more litigations over other sweeping actions he took through executive orders.
According to The Guardian, Democratic lawmaker Green described Trump’s plan on Gaza as a terrible act. He said ethnic cleansing in Gaza was a serious issue that should not be taken lightly, especially if it came from the President of the United States.
He also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be ashamed for welcoming such a statement from Trump.
Green emphasised that injustice in one place threatened justice everywhere and that the injustice in Gaza posed a threat to justice in the US.
“I rise to announce that the movement to impeach the president has begun. I rise to announce that I will bring articles of impeachment against the president for dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done,” Green stated.
The lawmaker has a history of attempting to impeach Trump, having launched several efforts during Trump’s first term, but none of them was successful.
The impeachment articles are likely to spark intense debate in the coming days, with many wondering what this could mean for Trump and the US.
The ICIR reported that at a joint press conference with Netanyahu on Tuesday, February 4, Trump said the US would take over the Gaza Strip to “dismantle and develop it.”
He also vowed to relocate the original inhabitants – the Palestinians – to neighbouring countries.
According to Aljazeera, Trump unveiled the plan to Netanyahu, who visited the White House for a bilateral meeting.
Many people, especially in the Middle East, have described the plan as ethnic cleansing.
Hamas has strongly condemned the plan, saying it would only worsen chaos and tension in the region. They vowed that the people of Gaza would resist the decision.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is among the Middle East nations resisting the plan.
The ICIR reports that Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 61,700 people, according to an adjusted toll by the Gaza Government Media Office, which said thousands of missing people had been considered dead.
Trump’s controversial decisions
Most of Trump’s decisions since he assumed power on January 20 have been termed controversial by many.
His planned dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) could take hundreds of jobs worldwide as most of USAID’s staff have been placed on administrative leave.
The plan to refocus the organisation’s activities to only local needs has sparked widespread criticisms from several Americans and people from across the globe who argued that the decision would have a devastating impact on global humanitarian efforts.
USAID supports health and emergency programmes in over 120 countries, including some of the world’s poorest regions.
Trump’s decision to dismantle the agency is part of a long-standing narrative among hard-line conservatives and libertarians, who believe that US taxpayer money should be spent on domestic priorities rather than foreign aid.
The agency, in a statement on its website on Tuesday, said that the staff leave would begin before midnight on February 7, 2024.
Trump also signed 42 executive orders on his inauguration day on Monday, January 20, reversing several policies of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Some of the orders include pulling out the US from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Paris Climate Agreement, ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, and recognising only two genders – male and female.
The list includes defending women from gender ideology extremism, reinstating the ban on transgender military service, and renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, among others.
In addition to these, he has pulled the US from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
A reporter with the ICIR
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