United States Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is excited to see God at work in Israel and credits President Donald Trump as being Israel’s all-time best friend as America’s commander-in-chief.
“The Trump administration is the most supportive administration in regards to Israel in American history, and I think that’s helped Israel in direct ways,” Friedman told CBN News.
Meeting Israel’s needs
As the first and only U.S. ambassador to serve in the Israeli capital of Jerusalem, Friedman finds himself in the center of a crucial and pivotal time regarding the historic changes currently taking place in the Middle East – especially as the U.S. and Israel are working together as allies as never before to work out a much anticipated peace plan between the Jewish State and the Palestinians.
And with little being divulged about the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan so far, Friedman revealed one of the guiding principles behind the ongoing negotiations.
“Nobody should be asked to take incremental security risks in pursuit of something that has yet to bear fruit, so we’re very cognizant of Israel’s security needs,” Friedman told CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell.
Mitchell then inquired whether the new regional alliances apparently forming between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Gulf States and Israel are a key aspect of the peace talks, but Friedman stressed that things are just getting underway.
“It’s all opening up, and I think it’s just beginning,” Friedman explained. “And I think that environment creates opportunity, and it gives the Israeli public some confidence that they’re not being asked to jump into an empty pool.”
As opposed to the stalemate – or cooling down – in American-Israeli relations witnessed during the pro-Palestinian Obama administration, Trump’s White House has been making unprecedented progress in America’s alliance with the Jewish State.
“Another marker of the Trump administration is change,” Mitchell asserted. “During his address at the start of the Jewish New Year, Ambassador Friedman talked about slaying some of the sacred cows of the peace process, such as defunding UNWRA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine) – the so-called right of return and the Palestinian Authority’s pay to slay policy.”
Mitchell then asked Friedman about the business ties between the Israelis and Palestinians.
“One of the aspects of the peace plan seems to be a relationship between Palestinian businessmen and Israeli businessmen, [and] some would say you crossed a red line when you crossed the green line into Ariel, officially,” Mitchell noted in his interview before going into his question. “What was the importance of that meeting?”
Both parties appeared to want to move forward without any more delays.
“On a practical level, I met with – I don’t know – maybe eight or 10 Palestinian business leaders and, to a person, they all said to me, ‘Let’s do business, let’s get going. We want to work with Jews; we want to work with Israelis,'” Friedman shared.
However, the threat posed by the Islamic terrorism-harboring nation of Iran – with its ongoing militant nuclear program destabilizing the region – continues to overshadow the Middle East peace plan.
“Iran is THE danger,” Friedman impressed. “Iran right now is the leading international sponsor of terrorism.”
He emphasized that the new sanctions against Iran set by the U.S. via the Trump administration will make a big difference and have a huge impact in the volatile region.
“They’re extraordinary, and I think they are eventually going to put the Iranian government in a position where they can continue this endless malign activity, or they won’t,” Friedman asserted. “And the sanctions will continue, and I believe ultimately their regime will fail.”
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SOURCE: One News Now, Michael F. Haverluck
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