Trump security maven Gorka: 'No such thing as Palestine'

(JNS) - Sebastian Gorka, Donald Trump's pick as his senior director for counter-terrorism, has made several statements in favor of Israel recently, including that "Palestine" doesn't exist and that IDF generals should forget about diplomacy and focus on defeating terrorists militarily.

Gorka, who had served as deputy assistant to the president-elect from January to August 2017, during his first term in office, broached the issue of Palestine in an interview on Nov. 16 with a host for RT,  a Russian state-controlled international news television network.

"Why can't you talk about genocide in Gaza? And is that the same with all of the Trump team?" the host of an RT talk show asked Gorka. He responded: "Because there isn't any genocide in Gaza. There is no such thing as Palestine."

Gorka added that the "etymology of the word Palestinian" is a "name invented by the Roman Empire to insult Jews." The host informed Gorka that "the rest of the world disagrees with you." Gorka sarcastically replied, "I'm glad you talk for the rest of the world."

The host, Afshin Rattansi, cited the United Nation's support for Palestinians, launching Gorka on a monologue about the international body.

"The United Nations that sends people in blue helmets to rape little girls in Africa. Why did I not listen to the United Nations? What a clown show, really. As far as I'm concerned, the United Nations could be pushed into the Hudson, okay? What have they done to solve anything of late except create child prostitution rackets in Africa."

U.N. troops and officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Haiti have been accused of hundreds of cases of sexual abuse, including against minors, over the past 20 years.

'Destroy every jihadi'

Asked about Trump's position on Israel, Gorka said, "President Trump stands shoulder to shoulder with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and our brethren, our brothers, our friends in Israel, whose job it is right now to destroy every stinking jihadi. 

"I've seen the video, the unedited 47-minute video of what they did to those men, women and children," Gorka added, referencing Hamas footage of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre that its terrorists perpetrated in Israel, plunging the region into an ongoing war.

Gorka also said he does not believe death statistics published by Hamas, which speak of 44,000 slain in Gaza. "You know what? It's really weird. I don't believe the Hamas Department of Health statistics," he said.

In a separate interview aired on Nov. 21 by Perspectives TV Toronto, an Israeli online television channel, Gorka criticized the Israeli military leadership's approach to Hamas. Asked about retrieving the dozens of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, he said, "The biggest obstacle is the IDF generals misunderstanding the threat."

Quoting Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, Gorka added: "The generals in the IDF fell victim to the mental virus that began here in America under [President Barack] Obama.

"The clever people in the government under Obama convinced themselves that Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Nusra ... are political problems, that can be solved with economic aid and political negotiations."

In reality, Gorka argued, "This is an existential threat, and as a result, they bring the wrong tools to the table. ... When more than 70 percent of Gaza or the West Bank think the murdering of children, the rape and the slaughter of young women is good, then there is no financial reward, there is no political negotiation that will bring victory. There is only the utter destruction of those who lead these organizations, which has been done incredibly successfully recently with the pager operation."

On Sept. 17, thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah commanders in Lebanon began exploding, in a devastating operation prepared by Israel.  

During Gorka's first stretch in the White House, detractors accused him of espousing antisemitic views because he allegedly was a member of a historical society named for the Order of Vitéza, a long-defunct order of merit that had existed until 1944 under the rule of Miklos Horthy, Hungary's Nazi-allied leader.

Gorka has denied these allegations.

In February 2017, then-Israel Allies Caucus co-chair Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) called Gorka "the staunchest friend of Israel and the Jewish people."