Ian Borg’s feeble response to Trump’s criminal intent

When approached for his reaction to Trump's shocking declaration that the US should occupy Gaza to rebuild it and that Palestinians should, in the meantime, be relocated to Egypt and Jordan, Foreign Minister Ian Borg failed to convey any sense of outrage at what the UN Secretary-General has rightly denounced as ethnic cleansing.

Borg’s reply to the Times of Malta journalist was a timid one: "We have our foreign policy, and every country has its own policies," as if ethnic cleansing is just another policy option.

This was followed by a statement reaffirming Malta’s support for a two-state solution, which still lacked any condemnation of Trump’s criminal intentions. Moreover, this has not even been followed up by a formal recognition of Palestinian statehood, as Spain, Ireland, and Norway had already done in May.

On this aspect, Spain, a NATO member, has taken a far stronger stance than neutral Malta. Contrast Borg’s tepid remarks with those made by Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, who made it clear that “Gaza is the land of the Palestinian Gazans. The Palestinian Gazans must stay in Gaza… Gaza is part of a future Palestinian state, which Spain is committed to.”

I cannot imagine Dom Mintoff, Guido de Marco, or George Vella taking such a light approach to an issue that has defined Malta’s foreign policy since the 1970s. I am sure all three would have had the dignity and gravitas to stand up against what amounts to the threat of another Nakba—the expulsion of Palestinians from their towns and villages in 1948.

Surely, faced with a declaration of criminal intent by a US president, no politician of real standing and conviction would have responded so weakly. Ian Borg’s lack of outrage speaks volumes about a foreign policy devoid of any conviction.

This also jars with the PL’s rhetoric during last year’s MEP election campaign, when the party had rightly lambasted Roberta Metsola for visiting Israel to offer her solidarity with the victims of the Hamas attack without firmly condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Borg’s soft stance regarding Trump’s criminal intent suggests a transactional approach to foreign policy, in which Malta’s priority at the moment seems to be cosying up to the new US president.

It also contradicts Labour’s use of the neutrality card during last year’s campaign. One of the pillars of our active neutrality was always support for the self-determination of peoples struggling against imperialist colonial powers. And while I have no qualms about adjusting our neutrality to modern-day realities—including the need to boost our own defences—we should never lose sight of our history as a proud, independent nation with a natural affinity for people like the Palestinians, who are still fighting to be free.