A LABOUR Cabinet Secretary has repeatedly refused to criticise an AI video shared by Donald Trump showing the US president and Benjamin Netanyahu lounging in an ethnically cleansed Gaza.
On Wednesday, Trump sparked international outrage with an AI-generated video showing Gaza having been rebuilt as a luxury holiday resort, including golden statues of himself, Elon Musk dancing as it rains money, and hotels labelled “Trump Gaza”.
The US president has shared an AI-generated clip on his own social media platform depicting his vision for the future of Gaza. The video shows a rebuilt "Riviera" in Gaza, golden balloons with Trump's face on them ⬇️ https://t.co/Ub9NDONKVZ pic.twitter.com/S2tMdalgaI
— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 26, 2025
It came after the US president repeatedly called for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, with displaced Palestinians denied the right to return to their homeland – an explicit war crime.
On Thursday, Labour’s Science Secretary Peter Kyle repeatedly declined to call out the US president or the AI video – despite saying he had watched it.
Asked then what he had made of it, Kyle struggled to respond.
“Look, that was a, this is, this is a, a lot of things that come out of all politics at the moment are, you know, lots of, sort of, ideas, and lots of messages are coming out," the Labour minister told the BBC.
“What we're focusing on and what's the importance of the moment that we're in today is actually the products of agreements between America and the UK.”
BBC Radio 4’s host asked again for Kyle’s reaction to the video, saying: “The reason I asked is it's a serious question. A lot of people who looked at that video were very offended by it. Were you?”
Kyle said: “All I'm doing is trying to find a way forward as the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Defence and the whole Government, is trying to find a way forward that reinforces the two-state solution in Israel-Gaza.”
The Labour Secretary was then told that it would seem “extraordinary to a lot of people who were made angry by that, that you are not able, that this Government does not feel itself able, to call out Donald Trump over something like that video and say, no, this was wrong, we are offended by it”.
Kyle said: “That's because this government with Keir Starmer's leadership is focused on what will make the biggest difference on the ground in this situation.
“We have to focus on actions, agreements, and the things that our two countries can do together that will make a meaningful impact in places like Gaza, in places like Ukraine, and to deliver the global stability that is needed right now in these very, very challenging times.
“We are focused on what will make a meaningful, meaningful impact where it is needed most in the world. That's what we're focused on.”
The UK Labour Government has been hesitant to criticise Trump despite a series of inflammatory foreign policy interventions – including falsely calling Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator who started the war with Russia.
The Prime Minister will visit Washington DC on Thursday in a bid to act as a bridge between the US and Europe.
Macron made headlines after correcting Trump on the war in Ukraine in the middle of a press conference.
Asked how Starmer would react to the US president telling lies in front of him, Kyle said: “Well, I think this meeting is actually one to establish the relationship and to try and refresh the special relationship for the moment that we're living in.
“And I think that's what Keir has proven he's very capable of doing throughout his whole political career, he's been in lots of different situations and met lots of different characters.”
