Donald Trump nearly ruined the US relationship with Israel in his first months in office, and it took careful finesse from his ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, to shape the president’s views toward the staunchly pro-Israeli policy positions that ultimately came to be, the former diplomat has boasted.
In his upcoming new book Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East, excerpts of which were published by The Guardian on Thursday, Friedman recalled how Trump shocked aides while meeting with then-Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in May 2017 by attacking then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his intransigence on peace with the Palestinians. At the same time, Trump reportedly said that Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was “desperate” for a peace deal.
On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump repeatedly referred to a prospective agreement between Israel and Palestine as the “ultimate deal” and said that he “as a deal maker,” would like to help resolve the 70+ year “war that never ends” for “humanity’s sake.”
Trump’s remarks in the Rivlin meeting “knocked everyone off their chairs,” according to Friedman, sparking concerns that the private, off the record conversation would leak to the press and lead to headlines “that Trump had praised Abbas and criticized Netanyahu – the worst possible dynamic for the president’s popularity or the prospects of the peace process. Fortunately, and incredibly, the event wasn’t leaked,” the former envoy wrote.
Following the May 2017 meeting with Rivlin, and before his meeting with Netanyahu, Friedman recounted how he pressed Trump and other officials into watching a “two-minute collection of Abbas’s speeches that I thought was worth watching.” The tape, in the former envoy’s recollection, featured “two minutes of Abbas honouring terrorists, extolling violence, and vowing never to accept anything less than Israel’s total defeat.”
“After the tape ended, the president said, ‘Wow, is that the same guy I met in Washington last month? He seemed like such a sweet, peaceful guy.’ The tape had clearly made an impact,” Friedman wrote.
The video was reportedly criticised by Rex Tillerson, then-secretary of state, and HR McMaster, Trump’s then-national security advisor, who reportedly dismissed it as “a cheap propaganda trick.” But Friedman retorted, insisting that he works “for the president, and nobody else” and was “going to make sure that he is well informed so that he gets Israel policy right.”
In the years that followed, Trump’s policy became staunchly pro-Israel, with the president striking up a personal friendship with Netanyahu, formally recognising Jerusalem as the country’s capital, cutting US aid to the Palestinian Authority, providing US support for Israeli settler campaigns in the West Bank, and backing the Abraham Accords – the series of diplomatic negotiations which led the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco to normalise ties with Tel Aviv.
Thanks to Friedman and other officials, including Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, the Trump administration also unveiled the "Peace for Prosperity" plan, better known as the Trump peace plan, in January 2020, with the proposal calling for a two-state solution, recognition of Israeli claims to settlements in the West Bank, Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, and Jerusalem as the country’s capital. For the Palestinian side, the plan proposed a $50 billion fund for infrastructure and investment, as well as a few neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem for a Palestinian capital. Abbas denounced the plan, emphasising that Jerusalem was “not for sale” and suggesting that the proposal as a whole belongs in the “garbage can of history.”
Trump has remained staunchly pro-Israel since leaving office, raising eyebrows by complaining that Israel no longer has “absolute power over Congress,” and accusing liberal American Jews of not caring enough about the Jewish State.
Trump’s friendship with Netanyahu came to a crashing halt last year, however, over the former Israeli prime minister’s move to quickly congratulate Biden with his election victory in November 2020, and then again after his inauguration in January 2021.
“The first person that congratulated [Biden was Bibi Netanyahu, the man that I did more for any another person I dealt with,” Trump complained in an interview. “He was very early. Like earlier than most. I haven’t spoken to him since. F*** him,” the former president added. “I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi. But I also like loyalty.”
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14 December 2021, 04:43 GMT