In the past few days, I actually have received a flurry of inquiries asking for my thoughts regarding President Trump’s recent statements on Gaza, Israel, and Iran, each asking for my insight: friends, donors to Genesis 123, and journalists. Without a doubt, it’s the biggest level of interest at anybody point for the reason that October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre. To be honest, it became tiring responding to kind of the identical questions with the identical thoughts. If I had been smart, I’d have set an “out of office” message akin to, “Thank you to your inquiry. My thoughts on President Trump’s recent remarks are X, Y, Z. I hope this is useful. If you’ve gotten some other questions, I’ll respond under separate cover.”
Evaluating Trump’s Statements on the Middle East
So, what do I feel of Trump’s statements and actions on the Middle East?
My thoughts reflect that of many Israelis, ranging the gamut from silly, dangerous, and inconceivable to sensible, daring, and about time. The difference is that I see all considerations quite than having a partisan reflexive position for or against. In the Middle East, nuance is like salt, needed to make most things taste a bit of higher. Another difference is that for the past 12 months, I actually have been actively pursuing and promoting the true Solution for Peace in Gaza. Unlike those that protest throughout Western cities and campuses calling for Israel’s destruction, ostensibly on behalf of the Palestinian Arabs, I actually want a great solution, no more of the identical that can doom us to countless conflict, death, and destruction.
Diverse Reactions to Trump’s Proposal
Before my very own observations, it’s noteworthy to say the range of responses. Many on the fitting are spiking the ball within the diplomatic end zone, believing that the decision to maneuver all or most Gazans to other countries is long overdue and step one toward recognition of Israeli sovereignty of Judea and Samaria (aka the “West Bank”). Some are being openly critical that the later just isn’t happening faster, and tangentially concerning the hostage/ceasefire deal that Trump presumably pushed Israel into, releasing hundreds of hardened terrorists. While celebrating now, they might turn out to be distraught later if his talk is more posturing quite than staking out a position.
Many on the left cannot find enough hostile words with which in charge Trump and Netanyahu. That’s not latest. Many refuse to see that any possibility, aside from the “two-state solution” where Palestinian Arabs are given a state without leaders, infrastructure, and even intent to really live side by side in peace, is the one thing that may occur. Any divergence from this fantasy with no basis in point of fact since October 7 is, by their definition, illegitimate. All this neglects the truth that for Hamas and other terrorists, the answer just isn’t the creation of a Palestinian state however the destruction of the Jewish state. Nuance.
It’s doubtful that if this can be a negotiating ploy that yields historic results, the critics will ever walk back their criticism, and even say “Oops.”
The Arab World’s Response
The Arab world is doubling down, issuing blunt and even harsh statements that no solution will be considered that relocates Gazans, during which a Palestinian state just isn’t the end result, and which does not require Israel to provide up control of the guts of the unique Bible Belt.
The query from those that reject the notion out of hand is, if there are 1,000,000 or more, and even only 100,000 Gazans who want to go away, why should they be forced to remain? And how is it that those stopping Gazans from leaving claim that they’ve the Palestinian Arabs’ interests at heart?
Is Trump’s Plan a Diplomatic Tactic or a Serious Proposal?
While all these statements could also be not more than a Trump negotiating tactic, breaking diplomatic idols which were worshipped for generations, details are unclear. There’s an unlimited difference between forced expulsion and voluntary (even incentivized) relocation, whether temporary or everlasting, for some or all. One thing that is bound, relocating two million people is literally a migration of Biblical proportion, matching the variety of Jews who fled Egypt in the course of the Exodus.
Historical Precedents for Population Relocation
As complex as it might be, and being chided as “ethnic cleansing,” we must do not forget that there are numerous historical precedents for transfer of populations between countries as a part of, or following, conflicts and wars. In post-WWII Europe, 14 million Germans were expelled from countries during which they lived, sending them back to Germany though the war was over and so they posed no actual threat.
10-20 million were displaced and compelled to migrate after India was partitioned and Pakistan was created. More recently, the Syrian Civil War saw six million people flee from Syria across Europe, not including those displaced domestically. And what concerning the migration across the US southern border? Many of the identical people expressing horror and moral outrage about Trump’s Gaza idea are those who decried his blocking the identical migrants.
There are other examples. But what’s unique concerning the proposed Gazan migration is that, unlike the others, it’s something in charge on Israel. That’s why it’s being so heavily criticized, and terms like “ethnic cleansing,” “genocide,” and “war crime” are getting used here but not in some other instance.
The Key to True Peace Is Deradicalization
But nothing will be refrained from essential deradicalizing of the Palestinian Arabs. True peace is not going to come just from the relocation of hundreds of thousands of jihadis but only through their accepting Israel’s legitimacy and rejection of “armed struggle” and Islamic “resistance” that has defined Palestinian Arab nationalism since its inception within the Sixties. Deradicalization can also be essential for any country that will soak up Gazans because their Islamic extremism, which has been indoctrinated for a century, will turn out to be a threat to the nations that take them in.
If the plan is to go forward, President Trump must make accommodations so allies like Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and others is not going to be threatened by absorbing Gazans. If Gazans were to be relocated within the interest of peace and their well-being, only to undermine the soundness and relative forward considering of those or other Arab countries, it will be taking one step forward and two steps backward.
What Comes Next for the Future of Gaza?
Without deradicalization, which Netanyahu addressed and I commented on on the time, whether in Gaza or other countries, there might be no long-term peace. It’s possible to physically defeat an enemy, though much harder when, within the case of Israel’s enemies, they worship death and don’t have anything to lose. But actual defeat and eliminating an enemy’s threats requires the enemy to embrace a latest reality, on this case, a greater ideology than the unconventional Islam on which they’ve been bred.
Even if a lot of the Gazan population were to be relocated, one more reason it doesn’t do anything about long-term peace is that it leaves in place, with no deradicalization, hundreds of thousands of jihadi-oriented Palestinian Arabs in “West Bank” cities akin to Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, and more.
Can Gaza just be bulldozed after which start again? Not with the identical people, not with the identical leaders, and never with outside influences funding and enabling this because the Arab and Islamic world have done for generations. If a baby were to be indoctrinated by his parents like this, we’d accurately call it child abuse. In this case, it’s Palestinian abuse. And they and your entire Arab world which have funded it are culpable.
Is Trump posturing? Is he using this tactic as he did to kickstart the Abraham Accords by staking out a hard-line position only to have the Arabs come back to present a more moderate position? Was this his opening shot to the Saudis to get them to normalize relations with Israel (presumably in exchange for dropping the thought of moving Gazans out of Gaza)? Was this all a part of a plan orchestrated between Trump and Netanyahu (via envoy Steve Witkoff) to provide Israel something substantial in return for entering a ceasefire/hostage cope with Hamas that Israelis see as being dangerous due to releasing hundreds of hardened terrorists?
The key to success of any solution for peace in Gaza is whether or not I’ll give you the chance to drive 90 minutes to the Gaza beach, and never only not get lynched but get a kosher hamburger? Or, more significantly, will my oldest grandson doing his compulsory IDF service in 13 years, encounter jihadi peers attempting to kill him and all of us, or will Gazan peers be competing to get the perfect grades and education possible to profit from a thriving prosperous Gaza that their parents never envisioned?
*The opinions on this commentary don’t necessarily reflect those of Crosswalk Headlines.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Dimitrios Karamitros
Published Date: February 6, 2025
The views expressed on this commentary don’t necessarily reflect those of the Salem Web Network.
Jonathan Feldstein is president of the Genesis 123 Foundation whose mission is to construct bridges between Jews and Christians. He was born and educated within the U.S. and immigrated to Israel in 2004. He is married and the daddy of six. He is a frontrunner working with and amongst Christian supporters of Israel, and shares experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel through his work, writing, and as host of the Inspiration from Zion podcast.
Recently he published the highly acclaimed book, Israel the Miracle, which makes a terrific gift for Chanukah and Christmas.
He will be reached at [email protected].
