I have never and will never vote for Donald J. Trump. Speaking bluntly, I find him odious, a polarizing populist, a corrupt convicted criminal, an abuser of people and laws. The embodiment of avarice and greed. The Jewish tradition, however, teaches us that the wise “learn from every person,” and that even fools can speak prophecy. Which is why I believe the political camp self-defining as the Left – both in Israel and around the world – has to seriously contend with his dream to transform Gaza into the Eastern Mediterranean Riviera, and more importantly learn from his very act of dreaming.

Because Trump was right when he said Gaza is a hellhole. Trump was right to say that decent people would not want to raise their kids there. Trump was right when he pointed out that most of Gaza’s urban areas are construction sites, and much of Gaza’s agricultural land has been harmed for at least a few crop cycles. Because Trump was right that we cannot build a better future without first clearing the ruins of the past. Trump proved to us that if we do not put forward a new dream for how we will finally live in this region in peace, someone else will.

The saddest thing for me was listening to the reactions to Trump’s dream from the Left, the anti-communist wing of which........

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