Our Zionism Is Not One of Mass Displacement and Eternal War, It’s of Equality and Freedom

(This op-ed originally appeared in the English language version of Haaretz on February 9th, 2025)

It’s best to say this directly: It is understandable, especially after October 7, that there are people who neither belong to nor support the Jewish messianic movement, or Israel’s extremist government, and still have listened to Donald Trump’s transfer plan and said to themselves that they would not object to a scenario where they could go to sleep and wake up the next day to find that the Palestinian people had disappeared overnight.

But pain is not a work plan, and the sort of wishful thinking that vanishes adversity at the snap of a wizard’s fingers has never been the way of Zionism. We are a movement of dreamers, but always with our feet on the ground and a viable, concrete plan to make our vision a reality.

Where today is that daring, proactive Israel, which owns of its future and acts decisively on behalf of its security?

The transfer of Palestinian residents of Gaza to a third country is an idea that is antithetical to Judaism and to Zionism. The American president is neither Jewish nor Zionist, but those of us who are must stand against it and ensure that it is not normalized in the Israeli discourse.

This is not the first time Trump has proposed something that stuns everyone, and it will not be the first time an idea that he has thrown out is quietly tucked back in the drawer, where it belongs.

The talk of population transfer distracts from urgent, critical matters: The war in the Gaza Strip continues, our soldiers continue to sacrifice their lives, dozens of hostages and their families are waiting for the state to fulfill its most fundamental contract with its citizens and bring them home – alive, or at least for a dignified burial. Every additional day without an alternative to Hamas is a day we give Hamas a strategic reward.

And why does all of this continue? Because for 16 months the government was busy covering its tracks and dragging its feet instead of drawing up a genuine plan for the future of the Strip and guaranteeing the security of Israelis.

The solution lies not in the provocations of mass expulsion or in dangerous messianic settlement in Gaza, but in thought-out and realistic political action. Hand in hand with the United States and the moderate Arab countries, Israel must build a future in which the Strip recovers while at the same time our security is guaranteed.

The necessary steps are clear: the release of the hostages, a stable cease-fire, the establishment of an alternative government to Hamas and the formation of a regional front against Iran which takes advantage of the achievements of the war. Only such measures will lead to a Middle East that is safer, guided by a realistic, sustainable vision.

True vision calls for the creation of an alliance of moderate countries against the radical Shi’ite or Sunni Muslim axis. True vision demands the preservation of Israel as a state with a clear Jewish majority, as required by it being a national home for the entire Jewish people and, at the same time, a free, egalitarian and democratic state – a thriving state its citizens wish to live in, not emigrate from.

True vision means addressing the real problems, not fleeing from them. With the Palestinians, we will need to live in security; with the radical axis, we will need to confront it while building a military strike force; regarding Israel’s domestic challenges, we will need to confront them while battling the populists and anarchists staffing our government.

The true test of a statesman lies not in slogans, but in shaping historical processes. Let’s assume for a moment that Trump’s preposterous scenario is realized, and between 200,000 and 500,000 Palestinians would prefer to emigrate, rather than live in what remains of the Strip during its reconstruction. Where would they go? Europe has its own immigration crises and will not rush to absorb additional refugees. Muslim countries are turning their backs. There is no destination, no solution, only more chaos.

And chaos is the most comfortable environment for Benjamin Netanyahu, the best chance for him to continue consolidating his rule. The residents of Gaza will not disappear, not tomorrow and not in a decade, and those who seek a solution that will allow us to live alongside them in security will not find it in the ideological workshops of Bezalel Smotrich and veteran settler Daniella Weiss.

But while we engage in futile discussions, the government continues to dismantle Israeli democracy, abandon the hostages and the sacrifice the lives of the soldiers who are bogged down in a war that should have already ended.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have already left the country for fear that there is no future here, not for them and especially not for their children. Anyone searching for a genuine solution for Israelis must act to ensure that Israel remains a country where people can and want to live.

Thus, the most important task now is to ensure that all the hostages return, immediately. Then we must build a real future for the current and future generations of Israelis whose home is here, whose identity is Jewish and democratic, and who proudly bear the values of equality and freedom. Population transfer will never be part of their vocabulary, nor will eternal war. Because this is our Zionism.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Yair Golan is chair of the Democrats party.