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."

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The gathering seeks to forge bridges of connection and trust linking Israel with Diaspora Jewry, businesses with the US administration, and classical Zionism with the emerging landscape of technology, economics, and global communications. The summit will spotlight the period's central questions – how to build the day after the war, what role the American Jewry plays in shaping Israel's future, and how to preserve mutual responsibility and shared values connecting the Jewish people across the ocean.

The summit comes at a dramatic moment. Israel has been recovering from its longest war in history, while the American Jewish community confronts a rising wave of antisemitism and a New York mayoral election where an anti-Israel candidate leads in polls. Against this backdrop, New York – home to the world's largest Jewish community outside Israel – will transform for one day into an extraordinary gathering place for leaders, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, and diplomats.

Among the many prominent figures participating in the New York summit are Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon, former Ambassador David Friedman, former Ambassador Gilad Erdan, Israel's Ambassador to the US Rabbi Dr. Yechiel Leiter, the parents of fallen hostage Omer Neutra, the parents of returned hostage Edan Alexander, Senator John Fetterman, philanthropist Sylvan Adams, Strauss Group Chairwoman Ofra Strauss, businessman and entrepreneur Adam Neumann, Rashi Foundation Chairmain Shaul Shani, philanthropist and businessman Michael Eisenberg, HaShomer HaChadash CEO Yoel Zilberman, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, Masa Israel Journey CEO Meir Holtz, Rabbi Ari Berman, Elan Carr, and additional senior guests from the worlds of policy, academia, high-tech, and the Jewish community.

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Israel's decisive defeat of Hamas in Gaza will facilitate regional peace with Saudi Arabia, whereas failure to achieve such a result is thwarting a deal, according to former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

Friedman, who served under former President Donald Trump when the Abraham Accords were signed four years ago, told JNS that US pressure on Israel regarding the war was making the chances of regional peace more remote.

"Being a strong regional superpower that can manage its borders is what is admired in the Arab world," he said in an interview with JNS. "The Saudis want to see a strong Israel defeating [the two countries'] common enemies."

The Biden administration thought, he continued, "that by limiting Israel's ability to prosecute the war, they were preserving the opportunity for peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia; just the opposite. What makes the Arab world pay attention to Israel is Israel's strength against the enemies their countries face as well. If you reduce that strength, you reduce the prospect of normalization."

My second book, ONE JEWISH STATE, is available on September 3. Whether you are religious or secular, right or left, this book offers a common sense perspective that I hope will resonate. In the aftermath of October 7, all the relevant vectors — faith, national security, human… pic.twitter.com/AdJACCG4qW

— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) August 13, 2024

 The former ambassador, who conceded that no one could have imagined that the war against Hamas would drag on for nearly a year, downplayed assessments that terrorists carried out the Oct. 7 massacre to thwart an emerging deal with Saudi Arabia. "They did it because they could," he said. "Their motivation was hatred, with or without the Saudi initiative, and they did it because Israel let its guard down."

Friedman voiced pessimism regarding a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, despite recent remarks by US President Joe Biden and top administration officials that a deal was close. "I am not optimistic that they will ever make a deal," he said.

A Second Term?

Friedman, who is based in the United States but travels to Israel several times a year for his "spiritual health," said the Oct. 7 attacks have made him want his old job back, should Trump be re-elected in November. "There is unfinished business and course correction after four years of the Biden administration," he said.

Friedman, a proponent of Israeli sovereignty over the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria with local autonomy for Palestinians, said Israel needs to change the deeply entrenched international paradigm of a two-state solution, which he called "fitting a square peg in a round hole," by first changing its own mindset.

There must be a serious national discussion and consensus on the issue in Israel, he said, noting that it has been relegated to the Israeli far right, who he said have no credibility on the issue and don't speak for the mainstream public at large. "There is a vacuum on this issue … and leadership is not in place to make this happen," he said.

This article was first published by JNS.

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I slept through the Trump rally in Pennsylvania last night. I was in Israel and the time difference meant that President Trump would not appear until after 1AM local time. Instead, my wife woke me urgently this morning with news I had hoped never to hear — President Trump had been shot.

I was only five years old when President Kennedy was shot but I still remember that tragedy vividly. I recall even more clearly the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy some five years later. And, of course, as an adult, the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin and the attempt on the life of Ronald Reagan are seared in my memory.

But none of those events, as horrible as they were, had the same personal effect on me as the attempted killing of Donald Trump. Here was a friend, confidant and former boss coming within an inch of a bullet's path of losing his life.

I watched the videotape over and over. Even though I already knew the outcome, my initial reaction was horror as the screams emerged from the crowd. One could then see President Trump clutch his ear as if he had been bitten by an insect. And then the blood began to flow down the side of his face.

I had to smile as the Secret Service made a protective human circle around the President. He was having none of it. Trump wanted everyone in the crowd to know that he had survived; that he was fine and would never give up. He pierced the Secret Service circle and held up a clenched fist which he shook to the chant of "USA, USA" by the audience. I could see then that my friend was fine, both physically and emotionally.

Later that evening, President Trump descended the lengthy stairs from his airplane door without hesitation or assistance. He was better than fine.

At a time of much debate about the physical capabilities of the presidential candidates, President Trump showed, in real time, his incredible strength and resilience. He also demonstrated that the millions of people who regularly pray for his welfare are having their voices heard in the heavens.

An assassin's bullet could not impair Donald Trump. That's an important message to America and the world. It's also a lesson that we hope never to learn again. I pray that violence never again becomes part of our political process.

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Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman paid a visit to Gush Etzion's Arugot Farms on Wednesday. Friedman was joined by his son and grandson on the visit. The site has breathtaking views overlooking the Judean Desert, the Dead Sea, Arad, and Jerusalem.

Friedman was hosted by the founders of the Arugot Farms Jeremy Gimpel, Ari Abramowitz, and Yossi Levitt.

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During his visit Ambassador Friedman told his hosts: "I give you much respect that you are beautifully building the Land of Israel. Keep up this important project. I'm sorry I didn't visit this place sooner."

Jeremy Gimpel Arugot Farms Co-Founder told Friedman: "When you spoke about moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, there were threats and some thought it would lead to war. But just the opposite happened. It led to a peace deal with four Arab countries. This shows that the Nation of Israel will only make peace through strength and not territorial concessions. Giving away land would be a tremendous mistake."

Yossi Levitt, co-founder of the Arugot Farms, told Friedman "You did more for Israel during your time as ambassador than was done in the past 70 years." He explained that the farmers "hosted the former ambassador to say thank you for everything he did for the benefit of Israel."

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Former United States Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is expected next week to publish a book describing how the Abraham Accords came about, and his involvement as a Trump administration official. 

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In Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East, Friedman describes the "greatest US foreign policy accomplishment in decades," hailing former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for "never taking his eyes off the ball" and "always giving the right answer."

On many occasions, I accompanied Netanyahu with other US officials, and instead of resting or looking out the window, he always read history books intently until landing, Friedman says in Sledgehammer. 

The former ambassador even described how once he and the former premier got stuck in an elevator for ten minutes due to a mechanical malfunction, and how Netanyahu "kept conversing as if nothing had changed," while Friedman, who is "seriously claustrophobic," felt like they were trapped.

The book also criticizes former President Reuven Rivlin, who, according to Friedman, met in 2017 with then-President Donald Trump and spoke on matters that were not to the point. For example, Rivlin thanked the US president for the Mosul airstrike (an American bombing in Iraq on 17 March 2017 that killed hundreds of civilians), although it was clear based on the context that he meant the attack on the Syrian airbase.  

By the time Rivlin was done, you could tell he was tired and unlikely to stay focused, Friedman says in the book. 

According to the former ambassador, Rivlin also invited Trump's rival – Nancy Pelosi – to the 2020 International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, although he was told only the president, prime minister, or vice president of each country would be invited to attend. Pelosi was the speaker of the House of Representatives. 

I called Rivlin to ask about the secret invitation, and in response, I was told that it was none of my business. I was furious. I called the President's Residence and said, You beg me to bring Vice President Mike Pence Pence as a representative of your most important ally – who did not want to come – but do not have the decency to let me know that behind my back you invited the person responsible for outing Trump? Friedman writes in the book.  

Rivlin declined to comment on the matter.

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Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman inaugurated on Monday evening the Friedman Center for Peace Through Strength, an initiative to implement and expand the Abraham Accords between Israel and Arab states.

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The opening event at Jerusalem's Museum of Tolerance, where the center is located, put details of the historic accords on display, including the agreements' economic aspects and potential initiatives on innovation.

Guest of honor included former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mrs. Sara Netanyahu, as well as numerous CEOs, entrepreneurs, and American, Israeli, and Arab government officials.

As part of the event, the center awarded its first Peace Through Strength award to Pompeo for his part in strengthening trilateral relations between the US, Israel, and Arab states.

The evening concluded with the world debut of the documentary film "Abraham Accords," a five-part creation that sheds like on the accords and the part played by former US President Donald Trump and Emirati Ambassador to the US Yousef al-Otaiba. The film is a co-production by Friedman and the TBN network and is slated to be released internationally in the fall.

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One morning in the winter of 2017 a young, unknown man arrived at the Kesher Israel synagogue in the heart of Washington. He prayed fervently, as if his heart was filled with a special request. His tallit bag bore the name "Friedman," and it was the only time he had come to the famous synagogue. That same day, his father David M. Friedman, was undergoing Senate confirmation for his appointment as US ambassador to Israel.

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In the best tradition of Jewish divisiveness, powerful forces were aligned against Friedman Sr., led by the J Street lobby. But a few weeks later, in a ceremony organized by B'nai B'rith International, Friedman made his first speech as ambassador.

"If you were wondering about my middle name, Melech, it's not because my parents expected great things of me, but because my grandmother was named Malka [the feminine version of the name]," he began the speech, causing the audience to double over with laughter.

The prayers of his son and his parents had come true. Not only was the appointment approved, but David Melech Friedman became the most influential US ambassador in the history of US-Israeli relations. And not only through the steps known to everyone – stamping down Iran, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, relocating the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli and shaping the Trump peace plan – but also through endless moves that never made headlines in the dramatic Trump era. For example, visits to the Golan Heights, to Ariel in Samaria, and the City of David in Jerusalem – all of which would have been inconceivable prior to Freidman's arrival.

After four intense years, Friedman sat down with Israel Hayom for an "exit interview." For decades, the American Consulate on Agron St. in Jerusalem served as a conduit through which the Palestinian Authority would spread its lies and incitement into Washington. Friedman shut down the consulate and turned it into the official residence of the American ambassador in Jerusalem.

Q:  Now that this journey is coming to an end, what are your feelings? Your thoughts?

"I haven't looked backwards yet, but it's starting to sink in, especially after being at the Knesset and being with the cabinet yesterday and people saying nice things about me. It's been the honor of my life, and I wish I could keep this job forever. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished, I feel good about the last four years. It's not just me, it includes the entire team, both in Washington from the president on down.  

Q: Discuss one moment the public doesn't know about that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

"I have hundreds. There are so many things that we've done that nobody really knows about. One example, a few years ago the president was meeting with [former British Prime Minister] Theresa May, and she said to him, 'You know, there are these really good people in southern Syria. They're called the 'white helmets' [a humanitarian aid group that rescued civilians during the Syrian war] and they're going to be massacred by the Syrian military. They need to be extracted and saved, and we need your help, because the only people who can help them are the Israelis.' The president responded, 'No problem, I'll tell David to take care of it, don't worry.'

"For a week I didn't work on anything else. Only the IDF had the capability to extract them from Syria safely and send them to Jordan, but from Jordan they would have to have an exit ready to other countries that would be willing to take them. All the countries we reached out to at first opposed it. Israel was the only one that didn't make conditions. I worked on it day and night, really obsessively. It was very complicated. In the end, we were there at the border one night. Israeli soldiers met the White Helmet, who were with their wives and children, and were waiting with baby formula and blankets. It was one of the most satisfying things I did over the four years."

The regional conflict becomes balanced

Q: There have been claims that Trump wasn't involved in details, and that it was effectively you and Jared Kushner and other advisors who were leading the president.

"The president made every decision. I provide him with advice, I provide him with thoughts, with ideas, with opportunities. He's always in control and he made these decisions. He asks the right questions, and I think many times got to the right place. My relationship with him goes back 20 years, and it was founded on the basis of real trust. That gave me a head start over other people, and of course I had access to the president, but there was never a decision that he made where he didn't make sure he was fully briefed and understood the subject. He was the decision-maker."

Q: You and the administration led a series of well-known historic decisions that led US-Israeli ties to an unprecedented place. Looking back, what Middle East are you leaving for the new administration that is different than what you got four years ago?

"I think that when we came into office the relationship was fractured. The going-away present from the Obama administration was UN Resolution 2334. It was a gut punch, the idea that the US would support a UN resolution that considered all of Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem, the Kotel [Western Wall], to be illegally occupied territory was very, very painful.

"Four years later, I think the relationship is stronger than ever. I think we all want to see a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but we want to see it done on the basis of just a dispute between two people with competing claims to territory that should be resolved as disputes get resolved, not that one side is an illegal occupier and the other side is a perpetual victim.

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"In terms of the Abraham Accords, that's transformational. It's enormously important to regional stability, it's important to Israel, it's just as important to the Muslim countries that have normalized with Israel. It has the potential to change the Middle East for the next 100 years. But it's early, these are young agreements, and they shouldn't be taken for granted."

Q: What do you fear could set the process back?

"What has the greatest risk to jeopardize the Abraham Accords, clearly, is the empowerment of Iran. I think that will remove the United States as a credible player within this region, and I think that will leave everybody to their own devices, which is dangerous. If the United States is going to re-empower Iran, the US will not be in a position to advance the Abraham Accords, because it's going to lose credibility. I think it would result in friction between all the parties … to the Abraham Accords. It will push back the momentum. There's a lot that make the Abraham Accords work – there's the economic opportunity, and there's security. Security is enormously important. The security is basically sharing this common threat from Iran. If the United States is going to give the Iranians a path to a nuclear weapon, it's going to jeopardize American credibility in this region."

Q: You warn that if the US rejoins the JCPOA, it will worsen the situation in the region. But on Biden's side, they say that without a deal in place, Iran is now closer to a number bomb because it is enriching uranium to 20% and the Iranians are starting to operate advanced centrifuges.

"We're not in worse shape, for reasons some of which I can't discuss. If they [the new administration] don't know it already, they'll know we're not in worse shape – we're in better shape. And we'll be in much better shape if we keep the sanctions on. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't try to make a deal with Iran. But if we make a deal with Iran, let's make sure they have zero opportunity for nuclear weapons."

Friedman also wants access to site inspections, and a deal that addressed Iran's missile program, regional aggression, and support for terrorism.

Friedman says that Iran has shown that it did not use the benefits it gained under the JCPOA to become a peace-loving nation. Instead, it took the money the agreement funneled into its coffers to wreak havoc in Yemen, fight the US in Iraq, attack Israel from Syria, fund Hezbollah, and lie about its nuclear program, as Israel exposed when it smuggled the nuclear archive out of Tehran.

"The JCPOA made things worse," he says.

Israel – not to be taken for granted

Q: What advice do you have for the Biden administration?

"I really wish the Biden administration success. America has a lot of real problems that need to be addressed. We left the Middle East in a pretty good place. Normally, you come into office and the Middle East is always on fire. This time, it's not. I would say, this is not where you ought to be focusing your attention. This is not where I would be trying to bring change. This is one of the few places in the world where change is going to be counter-productive."

Q: The relationship between Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu was excellent but what advice do you have for us when it comes to preserving bilateral support for Israel, which is a vital asset?

"I think Israel has to respect the Democratic views, because that's the view of the American democracy right now. At the same time, the same courtesy should be extended to Israel. There are a lot of Democrats that support Israel. I think they need to get away from the politics and just kind of understand the American interests here. These are not populist interests, these are interests that really go to American security, American values. I think there's a pathway to bipartisan support. I certainly intend to work on that."

Q: Prior to your appointment, and even after it, people tried to delegitimize you, especially on the far Left of the Jewish community. How did that make you feel?

"It was a very sad moment for me. Not because I feared that I wouldn't get the job, but it was sad to me that the Jewish community in the United States could not see clear to permitting a right-wing being appointed to reflect the views of a right-wing president. I felt that was really unfair. When President Obama appointed the previous ambassador [to Israel], Dan Shapiro, who as much as my views go one way, his views go the other way, I think the Jewish community generally supported Shapiro without qualification. He loves Israel, he's the pick of the president, and he should be permitted to take his post. Nobody on the Jewish Right complained about Shapiro. I think there was a respect among the Jewish community. Why that same courtesy was not extended by the Jewish Left toward a right-wing candidate, it saddened me, because it showed me there were really deep rifts in the American Jewish community that I did not appreciate up until that point. I still don't know how to heal that. I do want to see the American Jewish community come together. There are certainly common values and common interests that ought to unite us."

Q: Let's talk about the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Do you think the presidency is responsible for the attack on Congress?

"First of all, I really look forward to the results of the investigation, because I have more questions than answers. I don't know how this could possibly have happened. I don't know how people were able to storm the Capitol to do the damage that they did. It's despicable, mortifying, disgusting. It's as horrible a thing as I've seen happen in Washington DC. I'm sure the president was as surprised as anybody that that happened. Although I haven't spoken to him, I can't imagine that was the imagined consequence. Having said that, I think his rhetoric was too much. It was unnecessary and too provocative.

Q: At the rally that day, or in general?

"At the rally that day, and the days leading up to it. Now, he's been on the receiving end of too much provocative criticism, as well, beginning with the Russian hoax and the impeachment and the rallies on his inauguration day, when people said, 'Not my president.' There's plenty of blame to go around. But on that day, his rhetoric was too strong. I think it had a very damaging effect, I don't think it was intended, but it had a very unfortunate effect. I don't know any right-minded person who wouldn't condemn the violence.

It was a very sad day for America, it was also in a sense a good day for America, because in the face of this unprecedented violence, the very same day, Congress reconvened and continued their business and I think we survived. With a black eye, but our institutions certainly survived. The Constitution survived, the rule of law survived, and our legislative bodies survived. A very bad day, a very dark day, but a testament to the strength of our democratic institutions, as well."

Q: Given what you just said, is there any chance Trump will run in 2024?

"I just don't know. It's too soon to be making predictions for 2024. There will be an attempt by those who don't like Trump to categorize his presidency by what he was like post-election. That's a very valuable tool to those who want to vilify him, because those were certainly the worst days of the administration. But the vast majority of his term was during the pre-election period, almost four years. During those four years, we had a lot to be proud of. We got a lot of stuff done. President Trump strengthened the economy, strengthened America, strengthened our military, and then gave a terrible speech on Jan. 6. Look, the world's complicated. People do really, really good things and then sometimes they have a bad day and do bad things. That's true of almost everybody. That's been true of almost every president in American history. Let's make sure it never happens again. We need to take a step back and evaluate the totality of the president's record."   

Q: What message would you like to send to the Israeli people?

"Don't take for granted being alive in Israel today. When you think about the history of the Jewish people, what a blessing it is to be part of Israeli society in 2021, to be at this point. It's sometimes hard to see what you have when you're up close. But I've had the benefit of both being in Israeli society up close and also being able to see it from 6,000 miles away as an American. I hope that perspective is something that Israelis themselves can have, because they're living history. Every Israeli today, just by living here, is making a massive contribution to the future of the Jewish people and the future of Judaism. It's an awesome responsibility – you're a chain in a 3,000-year continuum and you have the responsibility of bringing it forward to the future."

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If the US rejoins the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, it could set back Israel's process of normalization with Arab and Muslim countries, outgoing US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman warns.

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Speaking to Israel Hayom in a farewell interview, Freidman explained that the Abraham Accords came into being thanks to daily work by the Trump administration and that they had been made possible due to the trust all sides had shown the US in recent years – partly in due to the administration's aggressive stance toward Tehran.

Friedman said that if Washington were to soften its Iran policies, it could bring the Middle East peace process to a halt or even reverse it.

According to Freidman, the Abraham Accords must not be taken for granted.

"These are young agreements, very important to Israel and the region, that could change the Middle East in the next 100 years. They could be executed because the US was seen as a strong player on which all sides could rest," Freidman explained.

However, the outgoing ambassador warned that if Iran were to grow stronger and the US removed economic sanctions on the Tehran regime, it could send all sides back to their corners.

"If the US strengthens Iran, it won't be able to promote the process, and there will be friction. The Abraham Accords happened for many reasons: technology, economy, tourism, and more, but the defense element against the shared danger from Iran was very important. If the next [US] administration bolsters Iran, the status of the US will weaken, and it will have a hard time moving the process ahead," he said.

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Friedman made those comments during a briefing last week at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs under the headline: The Trump Plan: The New American Approach

In his speech, the US envoy shed light on how the Trump plan came about, what principles and considerations guided its architects, and what the lessons of past plans taught them 

Even though some like to dismiss Friedman as "the settlers' ambassador," it is clear from his comments that the Trump administration was keen on not being beholden to any particular party. Yes, Trump may be the most pro-Israel US president Israel has ever had, but he was not going to accept dictates. 

Friedman, who as a private individual is indeed very supportive of the settlement enterprise, knew from the get-go that he would not let his personal views play a role in doing his job in the administration. "Regardless of whether the settlements are just or not, they are a fact that exists," he has often said. He has never seen his role as ambassador as a means to promote the settlements.

The Trump plan is based on realism, Friedman insisted throughout his speech.

 "We start, we look at this issue with a great deal of humility, based upon the fact that we are not smart enough to know what's going to happen in this region tomorrow, a year from now, or 10 years from now," Friedman said. "In 2005, eight thousand Israelis who are living in the Gaza Strip, about as remote from central Israel as you can get, I've been to Israel at that point, I think, I don't know, maybe fifty times. I think I've been to Gush Katif once and those fifty times you would think if there's any place where you could easily evacuate eight thousand people it would be in Gaza. And it wasn't easy. It was the farthest thing from easy. I watched those videos of soldiers crying with the residents and the enormous strain it took upon the Israeli people. Why would we ever want to put Israel through that again? Especially on a level of a dimension far greater than ever happened in Gaza?"

Regarding the borders, the US team wanted to be realistic, and unlike what many have suggested, their point of reference was identical to that of previous administrations: that Israel should in principle withdraw from the territories it had captured. 

At the briefing last week, Friedman made it clear that the peace team understood that Israel had to make major concessions. 

"What we do accept is that there are several million people living in Judea and Samaria, who do not accept Israeli rule or claim not to accept Israeli rule, whose life is suboptimal given the challenges of security that exists and they deserve better ... But I would not underestimate the amount of courage it takes to put out a map of a Palestinian state. You know to those people who say well, you know, it's not big enough – it,s double the footprint, it,s double Gaza, it connects the two, and I can tell you plenty of people that saw this map on the Israeli side and when they first saw it, they gasped and asked what is that that you put there in the middle of Israel," Friedman said. 

"We've also said that there needs to be a system of laws in place that protects human rights, freedom of religion, freedom of the press – to create a real democratic society. Why? Because at the end of the day, those are the only societies that last," he continued. 

But the US peace team did not come to those conclusions on their own. Despite the many Jewish members on the team, most of them live in New York, and they don't live and breathe the complex reality of the Middle East. 

That is why right at the start of the process, the peace team realized it had to use local experts.

One of them, as Friedman revealed, was Gold, who served as Israel's UN ambassador, Foreign Ministry director general and as a close adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for many years, and today he is the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.  

Unlike the prevailing approach in the defense establishment and academia, in the JCPA, scholars have for years placed their focus on making sure that any peace deal would result in defensible borders for Israel.

Another focus, which has made Gold a world-renowned expert in his field, is Jerusalem. Gold's book, The Fight for Jerusalem discusses the effort undertaken by the Arab world to deny the ties of the Jewish people to their capital.

It has been translated into many languages, including Chinese. It became a bestseller in the United States, and every member of Congress received a copy. 

Gold turned the battle over Jerusalem to the battle of his life. He has crisscrossed the world to explain what the consequences of dividing Jerusalem would be, not just on Israel but also for Christian holy sites. Several years ago he added a PowerPoint presentation to the book tour, and this is how the ties to the peace team were forged.

Even before Trump was elected, Gold, as the director general of the Foreign Ministry, made initial contact with Friedman, who was advising the future president on Israel during the campaign. He secretly met with Friedman and showed him the two flagship documents : Defensible Borders for Israel and the Fight for Jerusalem. 

After Trump was elected and the peace team started working on the plan, the ties between the two became stronger. Only a handful of people close to Gold knew about the advice that he was dispensing to the administration. "He played a very important and significant role in this process and in one that I would say was irreplaceable. So Dore, you have mine and the United States' gratitude for all the work that you did," Friedman said at the briefing last week. 

In March 2018, Gold appeared before lawmakers in the US Capitol and displayed his presentation on Jerusalem. The event generated interest in the capital and ultimately resulted in Gold being invited to the White House.

At the request of two of the architects of the peace plan, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, he arrived at their offices the very same day to give the same presentation. The meeting lasted 90 minutes and spawned a long and secret relationship between the two sides until the peace plan was finally revealed.

Gold would occasionally brief Netanyahu on the content of the talks he was holding with the administration and got a green light from the prime minister to continue. 

"Most of the meetings were held in Israel, but quite a few were held at the White House," he said. 

Gold even introduced the peace team to a former senior Israeli official who helped them on various matters. Gold won't give away the name of the officer, and even today he says he will not divulge more than a small fraction of what unfolded in his talks with the US officials over the past three years. 

But even the little information he has provided Israel Hayom reveals a lot. As an expert on Wahhabism, the radical Islamic school of thought that has become dominant in Saudi Arabia, Gold told US officials that the focus on Jerusalem by Muslims is a consequence of "imitating Judaism."

Since the US peace team considers Saudi Arabia as one of the main players in implementing the peace plan, this was probably information that made their work easier

Gold further reveals that throughout the talks over the plan, there was the suggestion of placing the Mount of Olives under Palestinian sovereignty. "I told them that the Mount of Olives is not just an old Jewish cemetery but also a vibrant Christian site with great historical significance. Relinquishing that site could trigger widespread discontent among evangelical Christians, who are among Trump's most important voters," Gold said. 

When you pore over the details of the plan, it,s clear that the key themes articulated by Gold and his team at the JCPA were incorporated into the tenets of the Vision for Peace. 

The Trump plan focuses on an almost-forgotten paper called The Map of Israel's Interests. 

In a departure from former Prime Ministers Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, who both offered an almost total withdrawal to the Green Line, the map of interests that was devised by the IDF in the 1990s offers the Palestinians much less territory. This is very much what Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had in mind: the Jordan Valley and its surrounding area are to be annexed to Israel, as well as critical points in Judea and Samaria. 

"It was important for me to show them my approach, that security-critical areas had to be with Israeli sovereignty," Gold said. Judging from what emerged, Kushner and the others on the peace team accepted Gold's position in full.

Unlike other proposals, all the communities and security-critical zones are designated in the Trump plan as areas that are to come under full Israeli sovereignty. 

"We presented the Americans with what most Israelis believe in," Gold said. "For example, they read the book  Jerusalem: Delusions of Division by Israel Hayom columnist Nadav Shragai, which detailed the many dangers that the partition of the city would entail. It's not that they actually wanted to divide the city, but the book gave them the ammunition they needed and the rationale for why it would be problematic." 

"I felt like the librarian who had to find the Americans the relevant material so that they could make decisions. But I also felt that I was carrying out an important job and fulfilling my duty to my country and people." 

Even though he had the ability to influence the provisions of the plan, and even though its basic tenets match his worldview to a large degree, Gold makes it clear that not all of Israel's requests have been met.

He would have preferred that the plan gave the Palestinians less territory and he is less than thrilled about the prospect of establishing a Palestinians capital in the eastern part of Jerusalem. 

"This plan comes with costs, but we look at the cost-benefit analysis. Would anyone have imagined such a plan being rolled out by an American administration several years ago? And a plan that endorses Israeli sovereignty on the Jordan Valley? I would have preferred if we got this for free, but we have to be realistic." 

All other US peace plans were left on paper. Are you sure this plan will actually be implemented? 

"I am 100% certain that the plan will be implemented because the overarching principle of this administration is to deliver on promises, and Trump has done so time and again. Israelis will have a hard time getting over the legacy left behind by the posture of other administrations, from [from former secretaries of states] James Baker to John Kerry. But I believe that we can trust the people in the administration. I don't think the implementation will be different than what has been laid out in the Vision for Peace. 

Israel will extend sovereignty but a new US administration, in a year or in five years, may not recognize this. The what? 

"That's a possibility that always exists, but I hope this is irreversible. In practice, a new reality will have been formed, one that will not be easily undone. President Dwight Eisenhower didn't undo President Harry Truman's recognition of Israel."

Ambassador Friedman said that Israel would not take steps to extend its sovereignty before the March 2 election, and so has Jared Kushner. Do you think that Israel might still do something before then? 

"I think it is possible to take partial steps to apply sovereignty. The Americans will not go out against that if we do something in the near future."

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