Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman issued a stark warning regarding the shifting political landscape in the United States while forcefully defending Donald Trump's record on Israel, during a wide-ranging discussion at the Israel Hayom Summit on Tuesday.
Video: David Friedman at the Israel Hayom Summit / Credit: Flowmotion
Speaking with Israel Hayom diplomatic commentator Ariel Kahana, Friedman addressed the erosion of bipartisan support for Israel, the viability of a "Puerto Rico model" for Judea and Samaria.
The "massive" generational problem
Friedman began by pivoting off remarks made earlier by Hillary Clinton regarding generational divides. He argued that focusing solely on political parties misses a deeper demographic shift, illustrating his point with the election of Zohran Mamdani, a socialist state assembly member in New York known for his critical stance on Israel.
"When people think about the election of Zohran Mamdani, they say 30% of Jews voted for him. But they're missing the point," Friedman cautioned. "It's probably 80 or 90% of Jews under 30 who voted for him. Because I don't know anybody my age who voted for him."
Friedman described this as a "massive, massive generational problem" permeating not just the Jewish community, but Evangelical Christians and the secular community as well. "To think that that doesn't, over the long term, filter into our politics and the leadership of America is just wishful thinking," he said. He said the generation problem is in the Jewish community but also elsewhere. "We have it in the Evangelical Christian community. We have it in the secular community. And to think that that over the long term filter into our politics and the leadership of America is just wishful thinking. So we we have a real problem. And there are lots of solutions we can talk about what they could be, but it's an enormous problem down the road." He stressed: "We have it on the Left, we have it on the Right, and obviously it factors its way into the politics. Any democracy is a function of the will of the people. I didn't hear a solution to it, I'm not aware of a solution to it."
Sovereignty and the "Puerto Rico model"
When asked on the "Deal of the Century"– Friedman argued that the former president is "agnostic" regarding the specific form a solution takes, describing Trump as "the least pro-two-state of any president since 1967."
Friedman brushed off recent UN Security Council resolution supporting a Palestinian state, asking, "Who cares what the United Nations says? They have no... at the end of the day they're not gonna be the decider."
Instead, Friedman outlined a vision for Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria that he believes Trump could support. He proposed that Palestinian areas be modeled after Puerto Rico, granting "local autonomy but no national rights," coupled with economic realignment.
"I don't see any reason why he would be against that in principle," Friedman stated. "I think he would support that in principle."
Regarding the protection of biblical sites, Friedman. "We want to know that 10 years from now... places like Jerusalem, Beit El, Hebron, Shiloh, the wellspring of our Judeo-Christian heritage to be in good hands, that they'll be in good hands," he said. "If Israel is not the sovereign, then they won't be."
Sending the B-2 bombers
The conversation concluded a question on Trump's controversial meetings with figures like Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, as well as his recent meeting with Mamdani. Friedman urged the audience to judge Trump by his actions rather than his meetings, culminating in the US-Israel military action against Iran. "President Trump is a unique person. And let's judge him on his actions, not on his meetings, not on his words. Because he has a view that he can meet with anybody. He wants to gauge who they are, what they are, take the measure of the person. But his actions are what counts."
"No American president has ever joined Israel in a war against an enemy. None," Friedman noted.
He then described Trump's help in decimating Iran's nuclear program in June: "He joined with Israel in a 12-day war in which he put his entire presidency on the line... And he authorized the flying of those B-2 bombers 37 hours back and forth to thread the needle in Fordo and to destroy the reactor, with Israel guarding the airspace. Nobody ever did that. No one has ever come close to doing something like that before."
Friedman pushed back against the narrative that US aid to Israel was only helping the Jewish state.
"The US military has... spends about 100 billion dollars a year on research and development. Okay? You look at that at the 3.3 billion dollars that it gives to Israel. If you put it in that bucket, it's the best money spent on research and development within this entire 100 million dollar budget... uh, 100 billion dollar budget," Friedman argued.
He cited the F-35 program as the ultimate proof of concept: "The Adir that flies in Israel is the best F-35 in the world. Okay? Who gets that... who gets the benefit of that technology other than Israel? Only America. Right? So if you just want to talk about, you know, a return on investment on research and development in military, it's... it's... it's a great relationship."
