When Donald Trump suggested that Gaza could be the Riviera of the Middle East, many praised him for abandoning tired policies that were proven failures and for thinking outside the box. Was the idea creative or just hare-brained? What about his approach to Iran, eschewing regime change and military force in favor of “maximum pressure” through sanctions? He did the seemingly impossible by convincing four Muslim states to make peace with Israel in the Abraham Accords. Can he persuade Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel as well? What about the idea of expelling the Palestinians from Gaza? Can it be done? Should it be? Is there a method to his approach to the Middle East or just madness?

Dr. Mitchell Bard is the executive director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and director of the Jewish Virtual Library, the leading online resource on Jewish history. A widely published expert on U.S.–Middle East policy with degrees from UCLA, Berkeley, and UCSB, he has authored 22 books and was named one of the “top 100 people positively influencing Jewish life” by the Algemeiner Journal.

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