In the past few days, I 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 largest level of interest at any one point since the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre. To be honest, it became tiring responding to more or less the same questions with the same thoughts. If I had been smart, I'd have set an "out of office" message such as, "Thank you for your inquiry. My thoughts on President Trump's recent remarks are X, Y, Z. I hope this is helpful. If you have any other questions, I will respond under separate cover."
So, what do I think of Trump's statements and actions on the Middle East?
My thoughts reflect that of many Israelis, ranging the gamut from foolish, dangerous, and impossible to brilliant, bold, and about time. The difference is that I see all considerations rather than having a partisan reflexive position for or against. In the Middle East, nuance is like salt, needed to make most things taste a little better. Another difference is that for the past year, I have been actively pursuing and promoting the true Solution for Peace in Gaza. Unlike those who protest throughout Western cities and campuses calling for Israel's destruction, ostensibly on behalf of the Palestinian Arabs, I actually want a good solution, not more of the same that will doom us to endless conflict, death, and destruction.
Before my own observations, it's noteworthy to mention the range of responses. Many on the right are spiking the ball in the diplomatic end zone, believing that the call to move all or most Gazans to other countries is long overdue and the first step toward recognition of Israeli sovereignty of Judea and Samaria (aka the "West Bank"). Some are being openly critical that the later is not happening faster, and tangentially about the hostage/ceasefire deal that Trump presumably pushed Israel into, releasing thousands of hardened terrorists. While celebrating now, they may become distraught later if his talk is more posturing rather than staking out a position.
Many on the left cannot find enough hostile words with which to blame Trump and Netanyahu. That's not new. Many refuse to see that any possibility, other than the "two-state solution" where Palestinian Arabs are given a state without leaders, infrastructure, or even intent to actually live side by side in peace, is the only thing that can happen. Any divergence from this fantasy with no basis in reality since October 7 is, by their definition, illegitimate. All this neglects the reality that for Hamas and other terrorists, the solution is not the creation of a Palestinian state but the destruction of the Jewish state. Nuance.
It's doubtful that if this is a negotiating ploy that yields historic results, the critics will ever walk back their criticism, or even say "Oops."
The Arab world is doubling down, issuing blunt and even harsh statements that no solution can be considered that relocates Gazans, in which a Palestinian state is not the outcome, and which doesn't require Israel to give up control of the heart of the original Bible Belt.
The question from those who reject the notion out of hand is, if there are a million or more, or even only 100,000 Gazans who want to leave, why should they be forced to stay? And how is it that those preventing Gazans from leaving claim that they have the Palestinian Arabs' interests at heart?
While all these statements may be no more than a Trump negotiating tactic, breaking diplomatic idols that have been worshipped for generations, details are unclear. There's a vast difference between forced expulsion and voluntary (even incentivized) relocation, whether temporary or permanent, for some or all. One thing that is sure, relocating two million people is literally a migration of Biblical proportion, matching the number of Jews who fled Egypt during the Exodus.
As complex as it may be, and being chided as "ethnic cleansing," we must remember that there are many historical precedents for transfer of populations between countries as part of, or following, conflicts and wars. In post-WWII Europe, 14 million Germans were expelled from countries in which they lived, sending them back to Germany even though the war was over and they posed no actual threat.
10-20 million were displaced and forced 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 about the migration across the US southern border? Many of the same people expressing horror and moral outrage about Trump's Gaza idea are the ones who decried his blocking the same migrants.
There are other examples. But what's unique about the proposed Gazan migration is that, unlike the others, it's something to blame on Israel. That's why it's being so heavily criticized, and terms like "ethnic cleansing," "genocide," and "war crime" are being used here but not in any other instance.
But nothing can be done without essential deradicalizing of the Palestinian Arabs. True peace will not come just from the relocation of millions 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 in the 1960s. Deradicalization is also essential for any country that would take in Gazans because their Islamic extremism, which has been indoctrinated for a century, will become 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 will not be threatened by absorbing Gazans. If Gazans were to be relocated in the interest of peace and their well-being, only to undermine the stability and relative forward thinking of these or other Arab countries, it would be taking one step forward and two steps backward.
Without deradicalization, which Netanyahu addressed and I commented on at the time, whether in Gaza or other countries, there will be no long-term peace. It's possible to physically defeat an enemy, though much harder when, in the case of Israel's enemies, they worship death and have nothing to lose. But actual defeat and eliminating an enemy's threats requires the enemy to embrace a new reality, in this case, a better ideology than the radical Islam on which they have been bred.
Even if most of the Gazan population were to be relocated, another reason it does not do anything about long-term peace is that it leaves in place, with no deradicalization, millions of jihadi-oriented Palestinian Arabs in "West Bank" cities such as Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, and more.
Can Gaza just be bulldozed and then start again? Not with the same people, not with the same leaders, and not with outside influences funding and enabling this as the Arab and Islamic world have done for generations. If a child were to be indoctrinated by his parents like this, we would correctly call it child abuse. In this case, it's Palestinian abuse. And they and the entire Arab world that 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 idea of moving Gazans out of Gaza)? Was this all part of a plan orchestrated between Trump and Netanyahu (via envoy Steve Witkoff) to give Israel something substantial in return for entering a ceasefire/hostage deal with Hamas that Israelis see as being dangerous because of releasing thousands of hardened terrorists?
The key to success of any solution for peace in Gaza is whether I will be able to drive 90 minutes to the Gaza beach, and not 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 trying to kill him and all of us, or will Gazan peers be competing to get the best grades and education possible to benefit from a thriving prosperous Gaza that their parents never envisioned?
*The opinions in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Crosswalk Headlines.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Dimitrios Karamitros
Published Date: February 6, 2025
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of the Salem Web Network.
Jonathan Feldstein is president of the Genesis 123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians. He was born and educated in the U.S. and immigrated to Israel in 2004. He is married and the father of six. He is a leader working with and among 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 great gift for Chanukah and Christmas.
He can be reached at firstpersonisrael@gmail.com.