US has “biblical” duty to support “one Jewish state”: Trump’s former ambassador to Israel

Washington (Quds News Network)- Former US President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel David Friedman claims in a new book that the US has a “biblical” duty to support Israel’s annexation of the occupied West Bank, revealing a plan for “one Jewish state” that he said he would share with Trump.
“President Trump has often said that he was indifferent to one state or two states – whatever the parties might agree to,” Friedman writes in the book, One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
According to a copy of the book obtained by The Forward, Friedman says, “His goals always were practical and targeted toward tangible improvements in the quality of life. I believe that if Israel will support this plan, he will as well.”
Friedman argues the US should support Israel’s annexation “based first and foremost on biblical prophecies and values”, saying that such a policy “hearkens back to basic Judeo-Christian values of kindness, human dignity, humility and prosperity”.
Friedman told The Forward he will share his annexation plan with Trump “at the appropriate time”.
In a post on the social media platform X promoting his book, Friedman said the book contains “a common sense perspective” on why the US should abandon its 70-year policy of advocating for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict that would appeal to readers “Whether you are religious or secular, right or left”.
According to The Forward, Friedman says his annexation plan would entail transferring $1bn in US funding earmarked for Palestinians – including for the Palestinian Authority’s security services – to Israel, in order “to assert and maintain its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria”, using the Hebrew terms for the occupied West Bank.
Friedman then spends one chapter detailing his vision for the legal status of the roughly two million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank. He argues that “one Jewish state” would give them legal rights akin to citizens of Puerto Rico, a US territory in the Caribbean.
“Palestinians, like Puerto Ricans, will not vote in national elections…Palestinians will be free to enact their own governing documents as long as they are not inconsistent with those of Israel,” Friedman writes.
Friedman’s comparison is likely to raise some eyebrows because Puerto Ricans are US citizens with American passports and have access to US government services like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
But they are not allowed to vote in US elections if they reside on the island. They can vote in all US elections if they live in one of the 50 states.
In his book, Trump’s former ambassador writes: “This is a huge opportunity for the expansion of the Abraham Accords around the concept of ‘One Jewish State’.”