This is Trump’s plan, not Netanyahu’s. Let him move things forward and retract what he needs to

Perhaps one day, you’ll flip through Mishpacha and see ads for luxurious Pesach vacations at the five-star Trump Khan Yunis, towering 30 stories above Gaza’s gray, sandy beaches.

If President Trump seeks to please his Jewish constituents, the hotel will have separate kitchens and dining halls for guests who eat gebrochts and those who don’t.

In reality, it’s too soon to start diving into the niggling details. Trump’s proposal to relocate Gaza’s Arab residents to Egypt and Jordan, among other undisclosed locations, and rebuild Gaza into a Middle East Riviera, is being hotly contested. Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egypt’s President Al-Sisi will try to thwart the president’s most disruptive plan yet on their upcoming White House visits.

No matter how you slice it, Trump’s initiative is groundbreaking. For 58 years, ever since Israel captured Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War, the international community has regarded Israel as an occupying power and pressured it to make concessions to the Arabs they considered to be occupied. During his first term, Trump’s State Department dismissed the idea that Israel was an occupier. Early in his second term, he is tasking Israel’s Arab neighbors with resettling Gazans.

Israel should approach this soberly and avoid indulging in the national pastime of public speculation. This is a moment that demands caution and strategic planning, as Israel’s Arab neighbors could exploit any misstep.

This is Trump’s plan, not Netanyahu’s. Let him move things forward and retract what he needs to. After Trump clarified that the relocation of Gaza’s Arabs would only be temporary, Netanyahu blundered when he told Mark Levin, one of Fox News’s most pro-Israel broadcasters, that Gazans could return if they “renounce terror.”

What does Mr. Security mean by that? Will Bibi ask the president of Israel’s High Court to administer an oath, making returnees place their left hand on the Quran and raise their right hand to say: “I do solemnly swear to renounce terror”?

Regardless of how Gaza is deconstructed or reconstructed, Israel’s primary objective is to ensure that the nearby major cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod, as well as the smaller peripheral communities devastated by the October 7 invasion, become safe and prosperous again.

Every time Netanyahu visits America, he strengthens his position in Israel. Polls conducted during his visits, even by left-leaning outlets, suggest that Netanyahu’s coalition would gain support if new elections were held today. This is an ideal moment for the Netanyahu government to capitalize on its position and start delivering on the promises made to voters during the last election campaign, particularly regarding judicial reforms. When the coalition was first formed, it claimed it would be “yemin malei-malei” — meaning an “undiluted right-wing government.”

Wasting Valuable Time

That has yet to materialize, and the need for these reforms is urgent and cannot be overlooked.

Time is working against Netanyahu. Less than 24 hours after he returned to Israel, and before he could overcome his jet lag, the Jerusalem District Court presiding over the three cases against him for alleged bribery and breach of trust summoned him back to the witness stand to resume the testimony he had broken off due to his recent surgery and trip to Washington. This trial, which is still schlepping after nearly five years, is a major distraction that’s undermining Israel’s security and sapping Netanyahu’s time and energy.

Israel is still at war in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. It faces potent military threats from Iran, Turkey, and Egypt. On the plus side, Israel is nearing normalization with Saudi Arabia and perhaps other Muslim nations. Netanyahu is navigating the country through an auspicious, precarious, and complex mix of foreign affairs. It’s petty and trivial for him to parry charges that he persuaded Walla in 2014 to publish favorable articles about him or argue over who paid for his cigars and his wife Sarah’s favorite champagne in 2011.

The coalition’s more significant problem is with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, an unelected official who wields the discretionary power vested in the position by a 1993 High Court ruling to veto decisions made by Israel’s executive branch, without right of appeal. Baharav-Miara hails from the core of Israel’s left-wing power center, which still controls vast swaths of the civil service, judiciary, media, the military, and includes the economic elites who have benefited from a playing field tilted in their favor.

Changing History

Her actions have a daily impact on Israeli politics. In Israel, the attorney general and a cadre of assistants operate like an immovable magnetic field of opposition.

Baharav-Miara refused to represent the government’s position after it passed a measure to curb the High Court’s ability to overturn laws that they subjectively view as “unreasonable.” Netanyahu supporters have accused Baharav-Miara of “selective enforcement,” being hasty to probe wartime security leaks inside Netanyahu’s inner circle while ignoring similar infractions by left-wing politicians and media outlets. The AG ordered Netanyahu to fire Aryeh Deri from his cabinet two years ago, is trying to block Itamar Ben-Gvir from returning, and pushes her agenda on the proposed new chareidi draft law in a way that could topple the coalition.

The attorney general’s position is a civil service appointment. Baharav-Miara’s six-year term lasts three more years — until February 2028. That doesn’t mean Netanyahu is stuck with her. The five-member commission that hired her can convene to fire her, but the coalition must marshal the political courage to formally start that process without being intimidated by the throngs of left-wing demonstrators who will fill Rabin Square to protest.

These are critical days for the State of Israel. It’s not for the faint of heart.

The new Trump administration has swiftly sided with Israel and Jewish interests in unprecedented fashion on a wide range of issues, geopolitical and domestic. Trump also commiserates with Netanyahu’s plight. Bibi told Channel 14’s Yaakov Bardugo that the two leaders discussed how Bibi is being dragged into court three times a week.

“They’re doing to you what they tried to do to me,” Trump told Bibi. “They can’t beat you at the ballot box, so they’re harming you with a legal-political war. This is absurd. You must wage a war now, while we’re changing history.”

Trump respects strong leaders, and Netanyahu must show his backbone to keep his respect. However, Netanyahu doesn’t possess the executive powers of a US president and can’t sign a series of executive orders or fire civil servants like Trump can. And the court systems in both countries are vastly different — Netanyahu doesn’t have the recourse to appeal to friendly courts like Trump found to quash the handful of court cases against him.

The AG has also hobbled Bibi, threatening to order Netanyahu to take a leave of absence if she deems Bibi has a conflict of interest in promoting judicial reforms while he stands trial.

However, Bibi has many proxies in his coalition to take off the gloves and take on the deep state.

The time may have come to unleash them.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1049)