Trump is not the friend Jews need

When, just a few months ago, the US hitched itself for a second time to the Donald Trump rollercoaster, not many imagined it would be a smooth ride.

Many of his supporters, in fact, see the recently returned President’s volatility as a positive; his ability to come in, shake things up and break the deadlock.

Indeed, whoever you credit for the deal, it’s undeniable that his reappearance in the White House (and his strong rhetoric in the run up to his inauguration) coincided almost exactly with agreement of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, ending over a year of war and leading to the return of, at time of writing, 13 Israeli hostages.

But his latest intervention to advocate the US “taking over” and “owning” Gaza before relocating its population should provoke a shudder from Jews the world over.

While Trump’s officials have scrambled to soften his language (the resettlement, we have been told, would be “voluntary” and “temporary” to allow for the clearing of debris), the plan the man himself laid out was nothing short of a roadmap for ethnic cleansing.

Some have defended the remarks as a “negotiating tactic” or just typical Trump bluster – a hardline position from which to compromise – but if the starting point of your bluff is a war crime, whatever you bargain down to is not likely to be all that much better.

Others were quick to point to the justified outrage across the world, including from members of Trump’s own party, and the fact that the proposals will likely never come to fruition, if nothing else thanks to Jordan and Egypt’s refusal to accept more Palestinian refugees.

Yet even as the White House rowed back on the remarks, it became clear that the Israeli right see it as anything but abstract.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has already announced he is working on an “operational plan” to implement Trump’s ideas and the Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the IDF to allow “voluntary migration” of Gazans from the Strip (a term long used as a euphemism for exactly this idea).

Those were the words of Israeli ministers who hold the power of life and death over Netanyahu’s coalition and, by extension, his grip on power and ability to avoid the courts.

But in their fervour for “total victory” and “winning the peace” they have forgotten the very principles on which Israel was founded.

The Jewish community is incredibly diverse, with thousands in this country alone able to trace their roots to nations like Poland, Russia, Iraq and Israel too.

For many, there is one thing that unites their ancestors over culture, language or religious practice: they were expelled from their homes after the nation that housed them declared that the land was not theirs.

The October 7 massacres were the latest in a long line of pogroms dating back to the first century, but we should know better than anyone that the answer is not ethnic cleansing.

Some have hailed the President’s new approach after the failure of traditional diplomacy and lack of any progress towards two-state solution. But the latest ceasefire negotiations, the weakening of Iran and, ironically, the excellent Abraham Accords that Trump himself led mean that a chance at real peace is closer than it has been for decades.

The moment is ripe to use the leverage of the phased ceasefire to drag both sides to a lasting agreement that secures Israel’s territorial integrity and establishes a Palestinian state under a reformed PA – with Hamas nowhere near power.

When Israel’s every action is decried as a war crime or a genocide, our view of the real red lines can become blurred.

One of those lines is right at our feet and now is the time to take a step back.