Solo Avital, an American-Israeli filmmaker who claimed responsibility for the AI video shared by US President Donald Trump last week, told the Guardian on Thursday that the clip had been “satire.”
The video depicts the outcome of Trump’s plan to empty Gaza of its inhabitants and turn the enclave into “Riviera of the Middle East” – a plan that Avital described as a “megalomaniac idea.”
“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,” he told the British newspaper.
“Trump Gaza”.Yes, President @realDonaldTrump did just post this Gaza AI video on his social media platforms. And yes it does include this image of him and PM Netanyahu. pic.twitter.com/l40bBkV5P0
— Arsen Ostrovsky ️ (@Ostrov_A) February 26, 2025
Avital and his business partner reportedly shared the video with Mel Gibson, although the controversial Hollywood star denied sharing it with the President. It had also been on the Instagram account of Avital’s business partner for a few hours before being taken down. With such limited exposure, Avital said the video’s reach “surprised the hell out of me.”
The risks and challenges of AI
Beyond being a commentary on the future of the Hamas-ravaged Gaza Strip, Avital said he hoped his creation could “spark a public debate about rights and wrongs” of generative AI and the rights of creators.
