Top Trump advisor Amb. David Friedman suggests a ‘one-state solution’ to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel under President Donald Trump, David Friedman, has been publicly critical of the Biden administration’s attempt to push a Palestinian state down Israel’s throat, and even more so when the Jewish state has been engaged in a war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza for nearly five months now.

Recent reports suggested that the White House is weighing a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, as a move to pressure Israel in the hostage release negotiations.

“The president and the secretary of state began to speak more and more about a two-state solution, how important that is… I'm thinking the world just upside down,” Friedman told Joel Rosenberg, ALL ISRAEL NEWS editor-in-chief and the host of THE ROSENBERG REPORT show on TBN.

Friedman has his own vision for long-lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians and it doesn’t include two states, but just one. It is a vision that he would love to promote as a policy one day, maybe after presenting it to the current 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump.   

“If he asked me my advice – and I'd like to think he values my advice – this will be my advice,” Friedman said.

Friedman is Trump’s long-time friend and Orthodox Jewish lawyer, who served as an ambassador in the region for full four years.

During his conversation with Rosenberg at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention last week in Nashville, Tennessee, Friedman revealed his personal formula for peace.

The two agreed that the current examples of Palestinian self-governance have utterly failed, both in Gaza and the region of Judea and Samaria, internationally known as the West Bank.

In 2005, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made the controversial decision to pull all of Israel's forces out of the Gaza Strip and give it to the Palestinians on a silver platter. A year later, Hamas took power and the rest is well known, as Gaza has been turned into a terror base.

“They turned it into a terror state. So, we know it doesn't work. Right? We know with certainty – it's no longer hypothetical,” said Friedman.

He believes the Gaza experience tells us that there cannot be a Palestinian state.

Rosenberg added that the West Bank experience isn’t promising either, noting that the Palestinian Authority (PA) “has turned Judea and Samaria into a terror base camp.”

“Where do we see evidence of Palestine's self-governance that has worked?” Rosenberg asked.

Friedman is convinced that Israel must have sovereignty over its God-given land and he is advocating for a one-state solution: The State of Israel.

The reason, he explained, is because “Israel is the only country that can provide for security and prosperity of all those who inhabit it.”

Notwithstanding, Friedman's peace plan does not include the idea of Israel granting citizenship to 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and another 2 million in Gaza. He stressed that such a step would existentially give Palestinians the opportunity to do demographically what they couldn't do militarily against Israel, i.e. to finish off the Jewish state.

He suggests that Palestinians living in the area would retain a permanent residency. This status will give them self-governance on civil matters, but not voting rights in national elections, only local ones.

“What does that mean? It means they can't be kicked out of their homes because they have the right to live there, which means they can get travel documents that enable them to leave the country… and a large infusion of capital, you know, from our new friends in the region to help make this area an area that's worth living in for Jews and Arabs,” the former ambassador explained.

He continued, “It's the best way to absorb two and a half million people into an environment which enables them to live a better life. Remember, they have no leadership that they have any faith in. They don't want a Palestinian state because they know that will be corrupt.”

When asked if he would want to serve another term under a potential future Trump administration, Friedman replied: “Of course. I mean, you know, he's a dear friend. He's been a leader like Israel has never had in the Oval Office.”

At the NRB convention, Friedman was invited to join Trump on stage during his keynote address in front of 4,000 Christian broadcasters.

Trump gave Friedman several minutes to speak about the significance and impact of his administration’s policies in Israel and the broader Middle East.

THE ROSENBERG REPORT airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. EST and Saturday nights at 9:30 p.m. EST – on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the most-watched Christian television network in the United States.