By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
David Friedman, the former US Ambassador to Israel under the Trump administration, is out with a new book pushing a plan to have Israel annex the West Bank and American taxpayers foot the bill.
From The Jewish Daily Forward:
Trump’s Israel adviser suggests diverting $1 billion from Palestinian aid to fund West Bank annexation
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman writes in new book that U.S. support for Israeli sovereignty is ‘based first and foremost on biblical prophecies and values’
By Jacob Kornbluh | September 2, 2024
Former President Donald Trump has largely remained silent on what he might do in a potential second term regarding issues of particular interest to Jewish Americans. However, if his close adviser’s perspective offers any insight, it could involve the U.S. actively funding a previously shelved Israeli plan to annex the occupied West Bank.
Israel will need financial assistance “to assert and maintain its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria,” former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman writes in a new book, One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, scheduled for release on Tuesday. Friedman suggests that the next Republican administration and Congress could redirect $1 billion from existing aid to the Palestinians, including funds meant for the Palestinian security force, to finance the annexation plan, which he said will help improve the lives of Palestinians under Israeli control. “The easiest bucket to tap into and reposition is that of the United States.”
We’ve gone from Trump in 2016 saying “We’re gonna build a wall and make Mexico pay for it!” to Trump’s Israel advisor in 2024 saying “We’re gonna annex the West Bank and make Americans pay for it!”
.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
The actual easiest “bucket to tap” is for Israel to spend the billions we already gave them (they’re holding $46.1 billion in US treasuries that we paid for which they lend back to us with interest) but instead our “ambassador” is demanding we give Israel yet another billion dollars!
In the book, Friedman dedicates an entire chapter to comparing the fate of the Palestinians living under Israeli sovereignty to citizens of Puerto Rico, which was designated a U.S. territory. “Palestinians, like Puerto Ricans, will not vote in national elections,” he writes. “Palestinians will be free to enact their own governing documents as long as they are not inconsistent with those of Israel.” While Puerto Ricans are considered U.S. citizens and have the right to vote if they move to another state, Friedman does not advocate applying that to Palestinians in the West Bank.
Trump’s 2020 Middle East peace plan included potential U.S. recognition of some Israeli West Bank settlements. But such moves were postponed as the administration prioritized normalization agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and three other Arab nations.
Friedman, who also served as campaign advisor to Trump in 2016 and is still closely connected with the former president, told the Forward he has yet to discuss his annexation plan with Trump. “I hope to share it with him at an appropriate time,” he said.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Miriam Adelson, the wife of the late Israel First GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, wanted Trump’s support for Israel annexing the West Bank in return for her $100 million donation to his campaign.
She denied that was the case but now we have Friedman (who Sheldon Adelson likely told Trump to hire) putting it in writing.
As I reported in June, Friedman threw a fit on X over anti-Israel protests at college campuses and demanded that Americans be imprisoned en masse for “antisemitism.”
Last month, Trump held an event on “fighting antisemitism” with Adelson where he pledged to restore the power of the Israel Lobby over Congress.
He reiterated the same sentiment in an interview with Fox News host Mark Levin on Sunday.
The fact this Israel First lunacy is somehow being pitched as “America First” is beyond parody!