- Palestine Action, a UK-based activist group, vandalized President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland during the early hours of Saturday. The group painted “Gaza is not for sale” across one green, dug up another, and splattered red paint across a building’s facade.
- The move was in response to Trump’s proposal last month that Gaza’s Palestinian population be cleared out so that the U.S. could develop the region into a coastal resort.
- A Trump Turnberry spokesperson called the vandalism a “childish, criminal act,” adding that the resort’s “incredible team…will ensure [the vandalism] does not impact business.”
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A golf course in Scotland owned by President Donald Trump was vandalized in the early morning hours of Saturday, March 8. Palestine Action, a UK-based activist group, claimed responsibility for the vandalism at the Turnberry golf resort, tying it to the U.S. president’s proposal to permanently remove the Palestinian population from Gaza.
The activists painted “Gaza is not for sale” on one of the golf course’s greens and dug up another, effectively shutting the course down, according to its social media post.
The group also splattered red paint across a building’s façade and knocked a lamp off its base.
In a statement, Palestine Action wrote that it “rejects Donald Trump’s treatment of Gaza as though it were his property to dispose of as he likes,” adding, “To make that clear, we have shown him that his own property is not safe from acts of resistance. We will continue to take action against US-Israeli colonialism in the Palestinian homeland.”
Palestine Action bills itself as a “direct action network dismantling British complicity in Israeli apartheid.”
Trump Turnberry responds to the vandalism
In response, a Trump Turnberry spokesperson called the vandalism a “childish, criminal act.” While Palestine Action claimed to have shut down Turnberry, the resort’s spokesperson said that its “incredible team…will ensure [the vandalism] does not impact business.”
Palestine Action targets Trump’s proposal to ‘clean out’ Gaza
During a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early February, Trump proposed the idea of permanently resettling Gaza’s Palestinian population in neighboring countries so that the U.S. could “take over the Gaza Strip.” Gaza, which is home to roughly 2 million people, would be “clean[ed] out” to build the “Riviera of the Middle East,” Trump said.
Shortly after that meeting, the president shared an AI video on his social media accounts, depicting Gaza as a coastal resort, complete with gold statues of himself and a Trump Gaza-branded hotel.
“Whilst Trump attempts to treat Gaza as his property, he should know his own property is within reach,” Palestine Action captioned one of its social media posts Saturday.
Turnberry, considered one of the world’s top golf courses, is one of two that Trump owns in Scotland. The president purchased the property from a Dubai-based company and renovated it in 2014. His first, Trump International Golf Links, opened in 2012 near Aberdeen.
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said they received reports of damage to Trump Turnberry around 4:40 a.m. Saturday, and that the investigation is ongoing.
