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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On May 14, 2018 – exactly the same date and even the same hour that David Ben-Gurion announced Israel's independence 70 years earlier– I presided over the opening of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem, the eternal and undivided capital of the State of Israel. Apart from family milestones, it was the greatest day of my life and an experience I will never forget.

Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem was, of course, deeply meaningful to Israel's citizens and all of world Jewry. It was a firm rejection of the false claim that Jerusalem could or should be divorced from Israel's national identity. Even more important, it was the recognition by the leader of the free world that Jerusalem, indeed, represented the realization of thousands of years of fervent prayers by an ancient people to be restored to their national capital.

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But moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem also said something more universal. It demonstrated that the United States would stand resolutely with its allies and would not cower in fear from threats of rogue nations or terrorists. That message resonated throughout the world – from Moscow to Teheran to Pyon Yang. When historians study the reasons why there were no new wars anywhere in the world during the Trump Administration, I believe that the signals sent by the US in moving its embassy to Jerusalem will be among the key factors.

I have often been asked, "How were you so sure that moving the US embassy would not lead to outbreaks of global violence?" The answer is that I wasn't sure. Although we studied the security issues extensively, no one could be sure that no terrorist would emerge anywhere on the planet. But I believed that we were on the side of history and doing God's will, and that would be enough to keep us safe. Indeed, the prophet Isaiah predicted many years ago that our actions would advance the cause of peace.

The paradigmatic biblical verse prophesizing world peace is in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 2, verse 4: "nation will not lift up sword against nation nor study war anymore." So widely known and accepted is this verse, that it is carved into the wall across the street from the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

But Isaiah doesn't just foresee peace on earth, he also explains how it is to be achieved. In the prior verses, he prophesizes that the nations of the world will all come to Jerusalem to learn God's ways and follow his paths. Upon their arrival in Jerusalem, God will resolve their differences and then, and only then, "nation will not lift up sword against nation nor study wear anymore."

How does a nation "come to Jerusalem?" By moving its embassy to that holy city. Isaiah makes clear that the road to peace runs through Jerusalem. Perhaps that is why the name "Jerusalem" means "City of Peace."

In May of 2018, most of the world's pundits predicted that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem would cause endless wars and unresolvable conflicts. Some 2800 years earlier, Isaiah predicted that the move would lead to peace. Isaiah was right! After we moved our embassy, Israel succeeded in normalizing relations with four Muslim countries – the Abraham Accords.

Some have said that the Abraham Accords were achieved despite moving our embassy to Jerusalem. No, the Abraham Accords were signed because of the move. In moving our embassy, we ended the fantasy within parts of the Arab world that Israel might cease to exist or that the bond between Israel and America could be broken. We demonstrated that the United States will always stand with Israel but, at the same time, we signaled that the United States was prepared to stand as well with nations of good faith who are prepared to combat extremism and bring about a more stable and peaceful Middle East. Our message to moderate Sunni nations was as clear then as was Isaiah's message in ancient times: the path to better relations with America runs through Jerusalem.

This is the formula for Middle East peace and it all began on May 14, 2018, with the opening of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem.

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The famous novelist F Scott Fitzgerald, who wrote "The Great Gatsby," once commented to Ernest Hemingway, "the rich are different from you and me."

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He meant it pejoratively. He meant it negatively. To Fitzgerald, the wealthy led a life of privilege, of indulgence, and of selfishness.

If Fitzgerald was right about the rich generally, he was most certainly wrong about Sheldon Adelson. If I can paraphrase Fitzgerald, Sheldon wasn't different from you and me, he was different from all the other rich.

In Fitzgerald's world, the wealthy are self-indulgent. In Sheldon's world, he cared about every human being.

In Fitzgerald's world, the wealthy have personal lives that are dysfunctional. In Sheldon's world, he loved his wife Miriam more than anything in the world and his eyes beamed with pride and adulation when he was with his children and grandchildren.

In Fitzgerald's world, the wealthy are devoid of values. In Sheldon's world, what mattered most was his boundless commitment to the causes he and Miriam believed in – strengthening the State of Israel, protecting the Jewish people and ending the plague of substance addiction.

Tammy and I have only known Sheldon and Miriam for a little more than four years, since just before I became the US Ambassador to Israel. But in those four years we had a lifetime of adventures together, working so hard, and succeeding, to solidify the US - Israel relationship in new and historic ways.

I had the privilege to witness first hand the values of the Adelson's and they are extraordinary. They begin and end with a commitment to family and to placing the needs of others above themselves, values that Fitzgerald would not recognize as attributes of the wealthy, but values nonetheless that make Sheldon such a truly unique and transformational human being.

History will record Sheldon Adelson as the greatest philanthropist in Jewish history. But those who had the privilege to know him will recall his massive, joyous and caring heart. So special, so memorable and so unusual.

Sheldon, I loved sharing with you the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, the opening of new discoveries at Ir David, the City of David, and the opening of the Medical School at Ariel University. But Tammy and I enjoyed just as much sharing a cigar with you and Miriam and our kids on your mirpeset, on your balcony, in Tel Aviv. 

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We have lost a great American hero and a great hero of the Jewish people. Tammy and I will miss him terribly. 

May his memory be a blessing for us all, T'hi Nishmato Baruch. 

David M. Friedman is the outgoing US ambassador to Israel.

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America has been fascinated by Jerusalem since the early days of our republic. In 1844, Warder Cresson, the first consul general, announced after his appointment by the secretary of state that the United States was thereby extending its protection to the Jews of Jerusalem. The first permanent consular presence opened just inside the Jaffa Gate in 1857, and diplomatic presence has remained constant in and around the Old City ever since. President Abraham Lincoln, just before his death, told his wife how he longed to visit Jerusalem. And President Ulysses Grant and Mark Twain both visited Jerusalem in the mid-19^th century and wrote extensively about their experiences.

Neither Grant nor Twain were all that impressed with Jerusalem in those days. It was poor, inhospitable and undeveloped. The Old City of Jerusalem remained that way well into the 20^th century, whether under the rule of the Ottoman Empire until 1917, the British Mandate until 1948, or the Kingdom of Jordan until 1967.

In 1967, Jerusalem was reunified as a single city under Israeli rule. Almost immediately, Jerusalem began to bloom, to flourish and to become, for the first time in its history, a free city open to the worshipers of all three Abrahamic faiths. Many in the United States took notice and, in 1995, Congress, by overwhelming majority votes, passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and requiring the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all found reasons to avoid the implementation of this law. All in all, more than 40 presidential waivers were signed delaying the move of the Embassy. And then came President Trump.

Trump recognized the truth – that Jerusalem was, is and will always be the capital of Israel. He saw the dishonest and shameful efforts of UNESCO and the United Nations Security Council to deny Israel's biblical, historical and practical connection to Jerusalem. And he refused to pursue a foreign policy based upon anything short of the truth. President Trump, like other Republican and Democratic candidates before him, had promised during his campaign to move the Embassy. Unlike his predecessors, Trump kept his promise.

The United States Embassy in Jerusalem has now been open a full year. We have a beautiful campus in the Arnona suburb and magnificent facilities on Agron Street in downtown Jerusalem. Well more than 100 American diplomats come to work every day, working hand in hand with Israelis and Palestinians, and American and foreign tourists visit every day just to take a picture or say a prayer. Contrary to all the negative predictions, the Jerusalem embassy has been an extraordinary success, advancing peaceful coexistence, bilateral cooperation and cultural exchange between and among Israelis, Palestinians and Americans.

Most of all, the United States Embassy in Jerusalem stands for the truth – the bedrock of all successful policies. Moving our embassy places the United States firmly on the right side of history.

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