Trump’s proposal on Gaza: ‘Nation-building’ or a workable solution? Part 2

In Part 1, we discussed Trump’s proposal on Gaza and how his former life as a great builder could be instrumental in rebuilding Gaza. We also took a look at some past presidents’ failed attempts to solve the problems in the Middle East. In this final part, we’re going to look at some biblical references and try to better understand—as Christians—how a God of love could possibly lead a people to wipe out another group of people.

Unlike his predecessors, Trump has understood all along that radical “monsters” like Hamas and Hezbollah cannot be appeased; they must be defeated. It’s his “peace through strength” policy that he ran on and was elected on. He knew exactly why Obama’s “bowing tour” to terrorist nations that hate us did not work.

So, Trump will fully support Israel and let them finish the job. Then, he wants to completely level the Gaza Strip, which has only about five times the land mass of Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport, and rebuild it from the ground up. Trump is a negotiator. He just might be able to get neighboring Arab countries (i.e. Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia) to take refugees during the reconstruction period. They all stand to benefit—economically and otherwise—from a stable Middle East. On Tuesday (as I’m writing this), while meeting with Trump at the White House, King Abdullah of Jordan has already offered to take in 2,000 sick children from Gaza. Trump has also pointed out the potential of the region, citing the fact that Gaza has 25 miles of shoreline on the sunset side of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. It also has favorable weather that averages between 50°F to 86°F year-round.

The Jews’ Title Deed to the Land 

The rampant antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world has continually influenced accusations against the Jews for their “occupation” of land. We must go back to the Bible—which is also the most accurate history book—and see who originally had a right to the land. 

God promised Abraham and his descendants a certain area of land in Canaan (Gen. 15:18-21) and reaffirmed that promise to Moses about 600 years later (Num. 34:2-12). God reiterated the promise yet again some 800 years after Moses through the prophet Ezekiel, even while the Jews were in exile in Babylon (Ezekiel 47:17-20). The boundaries of the land were very specific, and the most detailed description of the land is the Numbers 34:2-12 account, where God laid out to Moses the boundaries of their inheritance.  

When you overlay that description with ancient landmarks on a modern map, opinions may vary somewhat between scholars and historians. But what’s clear is the fact that Israel’s current borders make up less than half of what God promised them. Israel’s original inheritance was all of present-day Israel, including all of the Gaza Strip, the “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria), plus parts of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said on The Rosenberg Report that David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, took a Bible with him to the United Nations [in 1949] and told the assembly, “This is our deed.”

Repeat After Me: “There is No Palestinian Race!”

Now that we know who has a right to the land, let’s look at who does not have a right to the land. The very name, Palestine, has been used as a propaganda tool for a very long time. In 135 CE, the Roman Emperor, Hadrian, in an attempt to sever all ties of the Jews to their homeland, not only changed the name of Israel to Palestine, but also changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitalina. The name Palestine is still being used as a propaganda tool today and for the same purpose. The name has even made its way into textbooks and some of the maps in our Bibles. And the term Palestinians, as applied to a group of people, is an invented term. It was never used until 1964 and was, no doubt, chosen to conform to the contrived name of the land. There is no Palestinian race! They are Arab immigrants from neighboring Arab countries. Arafat himself was born in Egypt, according to his own biographer.

But is Driving Out Hamas ‘Loving Our Neighbor’?

Jesus said the two greatest commandments are (1) “Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind” and (2) “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 37:39). That’s a fascinating concept if we consider applying the latter to our “neighbors” on a global scale. But as Christians, how do we square that when those neighbors want to do us harm?

Some think loving our neighbors as ourselves means always being a pushover to countries that oppose us and always shrinking back to keep from upsetting the apple cart. But is that really true? After revealing to the Pharisee these two greatest commandments, Jesus went on to say in the next verse, “The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (verse 40).

One of those prophets was Samuel, who told Saul to “completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation” (1 Samuel 15:3). On the surface, that doesn’t sound very loving! And it certainly doesn’t sound like God wanted Saul to be a pushover either. But let’s take a closer look. 

Saul’s Disobedience 

Saul was disobedient to God’s instructions (through Samuel) and spared King Agag, and Samuel later killed the evil king himself. Jewish history has it that Agag was the last man standing of the Amalekites and fathered a child before being killed to keep the race going. The movie, One Night With the King, based on Tommy Tenney’s book, Hadassah, portrayed this view. Others hold to the conjecture that some of them escaped from Saul. But either way, the Amalekites later re-appear in scripture in 1 Samuel 30 and 1 Chronicles 4. But the fact remains that Saul evidently had an opportunity to wipe them out, or God wouldn’t have told him to do so through Samuel. 

In 1 Samuel 30, we find the story of David and his men returning home to Ziklag, only to find the Amalekites had burned it with fire and carried off the women and children (verses 1-2). In verse 8, we read, “Then David asked the Lord, ‘Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?’ And the Lord told him, ‘Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you!’” That doesn’t sound like David was to be a pushover, either. David and his men did go after them, and they did recover all (verses 18-20). They killed most of the Amalekites, except for 400 men who escaped on camels (verse 17).

Haman

If we fast forward to the book of Esther, Haman, who was the Hitler of his day, contrived a plan to annihilate all Jews in Persia. Many scholars believe he was a descendant of the Amalekite king Agag (see Esther 3:1). Fortunately, Queen Esther intervened (as a perfect type of Christ) and thwarted his plan, and Haman and his sons were hanged on the gallows that had been built for the Jews. 

So, they were finally rid of the Amalekites and their descendants, right? Not so fast. The book of Esther took place in present-day Iran, and their hatred of the Jews has carried on even into modern times. They continually chant, “Death to Israel” (and “to America”), and those cries sound like echoes from Haman. 

Iran has continued to support Israel’s enemies such as Hamas and Hezbollah and was directly responsible for the October 7 attacks. My personal view is that some of these enemies of the Jews in Iran even today are descendants of Haman and the Amalekites who “slipped through the cracks.” That same evil spirit of anti-Semitism has passed down in the region generation after generation. No wonder God told Samuel to “completely destroy” them.

So, looking at the big picture, there are times when wiping out an enemy is justified and can actually be done in love—love for the greater good in many generations to come.

To sum it all up, Trump’s plan is at the very least an interesting proposal and definitely “outside the box.”. As he said in the news conference with Netanyahu, “We have to do something different.” The proverbial definition to insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, has been used so much, I’m surprised that dictionaries haven’t officially changed it. I think there’s a lot of truth to it. And if the other Arab countries in the region don’t like Trump’s idea, let them come up with a better one.