https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=n7gjaBslCR4
The effect it’s had on the people of Israel the people of UAE The the optimism and opportunity It’s brought to the Middle East None of that has been has been covered at all and I think it’s all because of because it came from From from us from the Trump administration. Yeah, but that’s that’s no bloody excuse here That’s no excuse like this isn’t this transcends the political as far as I’m concerned and I think as far as anybody reasonable would be concerned and it’s important to give the devil his due and that’s the case even if the devil happens to be Trump and his damned minions and the facts seem to me to be clear on the ground that this represents a significant and very unexpected move forward on the peace front in the Middle East and that’s been a problem that has threatened all of us for For 70 years for longer than that on all sorts of fronts Hello everyone, it’s my great pleasure and privilege to have with me today Ambassador David Friedman as the United States ambassador to Israel from March 2017 until January 2021 Ambassador Friedman successfully guided unprecedented diplomatic advancements in the US Israel relationship The United States ambassador to Israel was a member of the United States Ambassador Friedman has also led the United States ambassador to Israel including Moving the United States embassy to Jerusalem move that was promised by many previous administrations, but never occurred and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights He is also among a very small group of American officials signally responsible for the Abraham Accords Comprehensive peace and normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates Bahrain Sudan and Morocco for which he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 Ambassador Friedman Was recognized in each of the past five years by the Jerusalem Post as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world Coming in first in 2020 He also was named one of the 20 most impactful persons of the past decade by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Ambassador Friedman was honored by President Trump with the rare National Security Medal in September 2020 and by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff with the meritorious civilian service medal in April 2019 He has received numerous other honors recognitions and awards including honorary doctorates from Yeshiva Yudai Doctorates from Yeshiva University in New York and Ariel University in the Shamron On February 8th 2022 Harper Collins published Ambassador Friedman’s memoir Sledgehammer how breaking with the past Brought peace to the Middle East In its first week Sledgehammer broke sales records for a book on the state of Israel Ambassador Friedman is also the founder of the Friedman Center for Peace Through Strength Which works to build upon the ambassador’s achievements in strengthening the US-Israel relationship Welcome Ambassador Friedman David. It’s a pleasure to talk to you I’m very pleased that you’re willing to share what you’ve done with me and my audience and Welcome to the discussion Welcome to the discussion. Thank you Jordan. It’s an honor to be on your show So let’s start let’s jump right in uh, let’s start with an overview of the Abraham Accords and People are i’m sure that my ignorance is shared by many people. Um We can start right from the beginning What did you do and why and what does it mean? Well, the Abraham Accords Is a series of agreements between Israel four muslim countries If you had kosovo in europe, it’s actually five muslim countries and uh, you know people have Heard for years for decades about the arab-israeli conflict the most intractable if you will of all the conflicts And uh, you know, there was some progress made in the 1970s with egypt And then in 1994 With jordan And and that was it 25 years and there was no progress And you had the the arab league consisting of about 22 countries that reflexively would oppose israel Uh, not just at the united nations, but in every diplomatic attempt made by The united states so the united states, uh accepted This conventional wisdom that had been around for 50 years That until israel made progress with the palestinians there could be no progress among any other of the arab nations, which was In many respects counterintuitive. We proved it to be flat out wrong And as a result the the the middle east remained a very dangerous place With with really no opportunities for any advancement notwithstanding the fact they were there more than 20 arab countries all with different issues different populations um different concerns We knew that israel and some of these countries already had covert contacts We knew that most of these countries didn’t hate israel. Uh, some of them didn’t even know why They didn’t like israel. Some of them, you know, just reflexively acted against israel But you couldn’t do anything because of this conventional wisdom Uh john carry was the biggest cheerleader for this point of view that until israel makes peace with the palestinians you you can’t move forward and um You know when we came into office In 2017 we were given a mandate from president trump to try to bring some greater modicum of peace to the middle east and um And what we recognized was that virtually everything Uh that was in the playbook of the state department for the past 50 years Which was just wrong. It was just wrong. It was stale It was it had done nothing but increase the misery of of the peoples living in the region And we started to take a different tack and you know, there’s there’s lots of pieces to that I’m happy to go through them as as as you like me to but um, we basically just changed all the rules uh of the game Okay, so what accounts? for this Remarkable in transients on this front lasting 50 years Um, the evidence for the validity of your viewpoint is that When you challenged this presumption and you said the central presumption was there was no movement possible On the arab israeli front or let’s say on the muslim israeli front maybe to broaden it to some degree if that’s not appropriate There was no progress possible on that without movement In relationship to peace with the palestinians and so that was accepted dogma and it and it It put things into stasis for five decades now you pointed out that the countries that that are Relevant to such an agreement are diverse and share a very diverse range of opinions Let’s say towards israel. And so why was this accepted dogma? on the state department’s part and why was that accepted in some sense without question by presidents other than trump until Recently, I mean this is the biggest peace issue in the world and has been since i’ve been alive I would say with the possible exception of The constant clamoring on the cold war front. So how do you account for this? Well, I found it I found it disturbing in uh, at times amusing I you know, I entered Government from the outside. Uh, I had briefings early on when I was confirmed as ambassador with people in the state department and um To them the entire arab israeli conflict was simply boiled down to israel and the palestinians now First of all, that’s you know, that was just the accepted dogma. I challenged it I challenged it on numerous occasions and they said look, you know, it’s it’s a great question You’re wasting your time. You’re completely wasting your time. The palestinians Are the issue if you solve the palestinian issue you can unlock the rest of the arab world the rest of the muslim world as you say If you can’t solve the palestinian issue Nobody else will even will even talk to you now just to put that into into a bigger context When you say the palestinian issue, okay, you’re talking about israel not just Making uh peace with the palestinian authority which in and of itself is is a corrupt um Organization whose leader as people like to say is in the 17th year Of his four-year term, you know, he was elected for four years. He hasn’t had elections since he stayed on another 13 years with no Democratic mandate he runs a corrupt um governance government he Respects no human rights The justice system is is non-existent the financial transparency is non-existent There is extraordinary subjugation of women Uh homosexuality is a Is a crime punishable by death. I mean this and and those are the those are the good guys, right? Then you have hamas which is which which operates in the west bank, but primarily controls the gaza strip Take all that and and they’re extraordinarily violent and they don’t even accept the notion That uh that one jewish should live anywhere between the mediterranean sea and the jordan river So these these are the people these are the organizations that the state department says until you get them on board All right, you can’t move any further within the region and and there’s there’s really no way to get them on board I mean, they’re really isn’t any way. Okay, so there’s so there’s two issues at work there from what I understand then the first is What appears to me to be an over simplified? Rationalization for failure to move forward which would be the acceptance of a low resolution ideology that You can boil down all the complexities of the arab slash muslims slash Palestinian relationship to the issue of Of palestine and that because that’s intractable. There’s no point wasting effort on The attempt to to take a more differentiated approach to bringing peace to the middle east Combined with and this is a mystery that we could also delve into the fact that there seems to be a reflexive identification for many on the west with the palestinians on the side of this conflict and it seems to me that’s fueled by this equally global and vague reductive notion that The palestinians are oppressed and oppressed people are always virtuous And since oppressed people are virtuous the israelis must be oppressors and wrong Despite whatever sins let’s say the palestinian leadership manifests which are Justifiable in any case because of the fact that they’re oppressed and couldn’t possibly know better Is that too cynical? No, no, it’s it’s not the it’s it’s not even cynical enough. I mean you could you could take it another step which is um the the palestinians apart from Apart from the your point about well, you know, they must be right if they’re weak, you know, which is of course One does not flow from the other but you know the palestinian leadership the palestinian authority which is again You know as people say the least Dirty shirt in the closet the palestinian authority Spends hundreds of million dollars from its budget that could otherwise be used to build, you know a hospital or a school They use that money to reward and incentivize terrorists to kill jews Okay, and the united states Funds the palestinian authority we didn’t under trump we cut that all out. But you know, biden has recently Resumed all that funding so just to put this in perspective the united states of america the taxpayers of the united states Are paying the palestinian authority to incentivize their people to kill jews I mean, it’s that’s not too broad a statement. So Okay, so, okay. Well, I don’t often get accused of not being cynical enough, but I do appreciate that correction So let’s let’s return to the palestinian issue later because we don’t want to get sidelined entirely by that As the whole world has been sidelined for five decades. Let’s talk about the uae Bahrain sudan and morocco and you said kosovo and so these countries for some reason were willing to Move beyond let’s say this state department dicta and work with you to improve relations with israel and to improve the possibility of peace in the middle east and so Why were they willing to do that and why them in particular? so let me focus i’ll share with you a conversation I had with Because I think it’s the most telling with Sheikh abdullah bin zayed who was the foreign minister of the united arab emirates and I sat with him, you know This past summer after the abraham accords were already, you know out for for more than a year and uh, and I said to him, um Is this just about israel having Common enemies with you know, iran and bahrain. He said just about the fact that everybody doesn’t like and is threatened by iran Um, or is there more to this, you know, what what in your mind got us started? And what he said to me and he said something which I thought was very profound although probably the russian ukraine War it may be the exception that proves that rule what he said to me is, you know in the uh in in the 21st century The real conflicts in the world are not really between nations anymore. They’re really between ideologies And primarily and primarily they’re between extremists and moderates And we in the uae we’re fighting that battle and in the united states you’re fighting that battle and in israel you’re fighting that battle you know, you have roughly, you know 80 of the populations are You know center right center left, you know in the middle In the past they’ve always been able to find common ground But now, you know, you’ve got 10 people crazy on the left 10 crazy on the right uh, you know, uh, on on you know, uh Extremists, you know willing to resort to violence to achieve their means and That’s the fight that we have to win and israel and uae and america and bahrain and you know in maraca We’re all on the same side Of that fight our interests are completely aligned And I thought you know, I mean that look that’s after the fact but that’s as good as an explanation as i’ve heard from anybody as to why the abraham accords came together, but This is very important just because you know, there are reasons for people to align you have to create the right Environment to do that. You have to create the political opportunity for it to happen You have to create the kind of the united states has to create, you know the the coverage Um, you know for for these countries to move out of their comfort zone And so it was a long process and and and if I can it began in may of 2017 I can share with you what I think was the was the first step and one of the most important if I could Share that with you now Please do please do so, you know the very first Trip that president trump took to the mid east Was in i’m sorry the very very first trip president trump took Uh on foreign soil was to the mid east And he went to three places first place. He went was to riad in saudi arabia where he he assembled 50 muslim nations And he said two things to them and and the tape is extraordinary. You know, they were at wrapped Attention and he said two things which I don’t think any president has ever said before the first thing he said was Radical islamic terrorism is your problem in the first instance I don’t I don’t want to have to deal with it on my side of the atlantic Don’t make me deal with radical islamic islamic terrorism you solve the problem. It’s coming from here And if you do you will find the united states to be an extraordinarily good friend Okay, that was the first thing you said and a lot of people listened and a lot of people acted on The second thing he said is for those of you still wasting your time thinking that israel is going to be Wiped off the map or they’re not going to exist. You’re wasting your time. Forget about it. It’s never going to happen Okay israel you should be seeking to To emulate You know israel as an economy as a power as a democracy, you know, this is this is a solution This is a solution in the middle east It’s not a problem and those of you who still think it’s a problem and think somehow You’re gonna you’re gonna shortchange israel or get it to go away or push it into the sea It’s a pipe dream. You’re wasting your time. It’ll never happen and it’s inconsistent with the relationship with the united states You said those two things And and and let me tell you, you know, um, you know at the time We couldn’t tell you how how far that would go but now looking back from uh from in hindsight Boy, was that an important speech and he doesn’t get any of the credit he deserves for it But boy was that important the next thing he does because he flies Um directly to tel aviv now They told him, you know, mr president. We have to stop at aman. Why because Uh, you can’t fly from riad to tel aviv the sorties won’t let And and the president says I just spent you know, two days with the king. He’s making me Stop in aman. He’s making me kind of go out of my way just for some symbolic gesture Tell him I want to fly straight from riad to tel aviv and um, and of course when he made that request Um, it was granted and this was the first flight Ever from riad to tel aviv, you know, biden’s making a big deal now that he’s flying straight to saudi arabia from tel aviv The president of the united states under trump did it five years ago. Okay, so then he comes to he comes to uh, israel Where does he go? He does something no president has ever done before he goes to the western wall He’s the only sitting president to go to the western wall. Why is that important? Because you know presidents used to like to come to israel and go to yad vashem, which is the holocaust memorial Yad vashem is an extraordinary place. It’s one of the most stirring. Um places on earth But yad vashem is not the state of israel. Yad vashem is not the dna of the state of israel. The dna of the state of israel Is the western wall is the temple mount? This is what connects the jewish people to their 4000 year old history You know at the western wall you see mount mariah where uh, where abraham bound isaac you have the two temples This is the place where jews have prayed for 2000 years to be returned Well trump went there again the only sitting president ever to visit the western wall biden wouldn’t go I mean, he was too timid. You know, he reverted to that, you know that kind of stale, you know sense of even handedness Uh, he wouldn’t go So the president goes to the to the western wall and he gave an incredible speech in israel again uh recognizing not just that the jewish people have suffered which of course jews have suffered throughout history But but they did more than suffer. They they they built something they restored Uh their their their people to the land of israel fulfilling not vengeance for the holocaust But fulfilling a 2000 year old dream unfulfilled dream of the jewish people and then last but not least he went to the vat Again, okay, and he met with the pope and he incorporated, you know the christian theology Into into his overall message. So This was the seeds that were planted that eventually got us to the abraham of course lots of steps then along the way We’ll get back to more with ambassador david friedman in just a second first We’d like to tell you about birch gold the consumer price index has reached yet another 40 year high and the latest gdp Numbers confirm that the united states is in a recession now is not the time to have all your money in the stock market Or tied to the u.s Dollar take action to protect your savings from a highly turbulent economy now by diversifying at least some of your investment portfolio Into gold and silver from birch gold group text jordan to nine eight nine eight nine eight and birch gold will send you a free Information kit on how to transition an ira or eligible 401k into an ira in precious metals birch gold will even help you Hold gold in a tax sheltered account for decades investors have relied on gold and silver as a hedge against inflation Now you can too with an a plus rating with the better business bureau countless five star reviews and thousands of satisfied customers Secure your future with gold from birch gold now text jordan to nine eight nine eight nine eight and get real help from birch gold Today again text jordan to nine eight nine eight nine eight to claim your free No obligation information kit on how to protect your hard-earned savings with gold Okay, so you said that trump went to riadi he brought 50 muslim nations together and he made two very blunt declarations which was to control terrorism To place that back in some sense in the domain of the responsibility of the muslim countries and that is in accordance with the discussion that you described with the leaders from the uae that the People civilized people of the world that say are suffering from the same problem Which is how do you control a minority of extremists and we can get back to that and then trump also said forthrightly two other things that The that there’s that the americans are going to throw their weight behind israel permanently and so any dream of eradicating israel’s estate Is a pipe dream unless the consequences are or unless you’re willing to face the consequences, let’s say And that also that israel should be regarded as a state to emulate given its democratic structure and its thriving economy And its ability let’s say to regenerate the desert and all of that and that It could be viewed as a partner to learn from and appreciate rather than as an enemy. Yep, and then The emphasis on the necessity for the unbroken flight The visit to the western wall and the visit to the vatican And so what why in the world was trump able to do that? Why was he willing to do that and what made him? let’s say simultaneously a friend of the jews and israel but also someone that the Arabs and the muslims more broadly were willing to deal with well, he was willing to do it because You know and you know, he first of all he assembled A group of people that that he respected and that I think you know, we’re all moving this direction primarily I would say jarrod kushner and me two two guys No government experience but people that he had great respect for uh, we we we explained to him that This this conflict was was going nowhere And unless he you know radically realigned america’s priorities Uh, you know, he would finish his term in office the same way everybody else did and and we had these discussions and and I and I think look he He is The right president for the middle east because he is he is strong. He is fearless I mean he he look he he he worked that uh, you know Those actions were manifest throughout his four years including, you know the the decision to um to assassinate kasim sulamani, which you know was um an extraordinary message he sent to the iranians, but the president Is very strong. He’s a strong leader and in the middle east, you know, we have a saying, you know in the middle east You’re either strong or you’re dead you know and um Everybody everybody even the countries that didn’t agree with him Even the palestinians that reviled him because he wouldn’t agree with them. They respected him And and even the palestinians said that the only guy who can make peace is trump Because he’s tough and he’s strong and he backs up what he says And none of us can uh can pull the bull over his eyes, you know What what we say? Uh on the arab streets in uh in arabic is going to get translated. He’s going to find out about it He’s not going to give us, you know the wiggle room to you know to to say nice things in english For the american press and then say something different to the arab street, you know, he’s holding us accountable It’s very interesting. You know, I mentioned to you just before we started this interview a statement by nicha That great men are seldom credited with their stupidity and trump is from the perspective of a psychologist a person who’s Low in trait agreeableness, so highly disagreeable or at least highly impolite technically speaking And that’s not an insult or a criticism by the way. It just means that he’s not um well, it means that he’s forthright and blunt and brash and able to say no and That does have the consequence of making him a divisive character on the domestic front but It’s an open question how much that? forthright and stubborn strength of character Is the prerequisite for the kinds of negotiations that you’re describing and and that’s really something that we don’t understand We don’t understand the full complexity of human personality and what’s necessary in each situation. And so why do you think? Okay, so now we know why trump could do it at least at a personal level Why do you think he cared and made this a centerpiece of his policy because he’s a businessman in some real sense and It wasn’t self-evident to me And I think to many people that foreign policy would necessarily be an interest of trump’s and yet he pursued This middle east policy assiduously and carefully and with malice aforethought, let’s say and also very effectively So why was this so important to him? So look it it it wasn’t Um, it wasn’t something he ran on he ran almost entirely on a domestic agenda um, he has a uh, he has a real interest in israel both because You know people that he’s close to have a deep interest in in israel whether it was jarrett or avanka or or me or many of his friends that he You know, he dealt with over over years in the new york real estate market um, he also I think was intrigued by the challenge because you know peace in the middle east is sort of you know considered as likely as a As a solar eclipse or maybe even less likely so You know the challenge I think was something that that he saw interesting And um, and look, I don’t think he spent A huge portion of his time On this what he did is he he deputized? Um jarrett he and me To work the region Jason greenblatt as well when he was working there We worked the region. We we studied we we thought more about what to do um, we after that trip We began to uh Move forward with some some real historic pro israel moves Um both because we wanted to do it both because the president had promised he would do it because they were extraordinarily important to many of the people that voted for him and also because it would give us a a real sense of of how A pro israel policy could could be harmonized with a pro Moderate sunni policy as well and you know, it was interesting. Um, uh my friend jarrett, um likes to talk about you know his conversations when he spoke to a few of his arab friends and in the region About potentially moving our embassy to jerusalem and they said to him jarrett I’m not going to tell you to move the embassy or not move the embassy But what I am going to tell you is that if you move the embassy, you’ll find out who your friends are and um that that just struck me as a As an extraordinary observation because when we moved the embassy we did we found out who our friends were You know the uh again the state department um the cia Much to the consternation of mike pampeo who was running the cia at the time But the cia analyst predicted that you know if we move our embassy, we’re going to create a an arc of violence from morocco all the way to pakistan And um everything that we did on our own all the conversations we had suggested exactly the opposite But what do we know? What do I know? I’m a i’m a recovering lawyer and you know jarrett is a real estate guy But everything we knew everybody we spoke to said that’s not going to be the case. Yeah. Well, it was it’s also the case that Well, it’s also the case that you know, you’d think if you were thinking about this strategically beforehand in some sense that the move of the embassy To jerusalem would have scuttled any chances whatsoever. That would be the accepted dogma anyways That would have it scuttled any chances whatsoever of moving forward with a broader peace accord Um, you know so much for expert prediction, but that’s not at all what happened no, not only is not what happened but um, you know on in terms of the arc of getting from that Trip that the president took in may of 2017 to the abraham accords One of the most important steps along the way counterintuitively was moving our embassy to jerusalem. Why? Because what the president was was saying in moving his embassy to moving our embassy to jerusalem He was delivering a few messages. The first is I keep my campaign promises. I’m a reliable ally I told people I would move the embassy to jerusalem. So did obama so did clinton so did bush i’m keeping that promise You can trust me number two I’m going to fulfill the will of the american people the american people have Through their congress voted overwhelmingly to move the embassy to jerusalem through the jerusalem embassy act I’m taking that view seriously. I care what the american people think The other presidents have all signed waivers. I’m going to do something different number three. I’m not afraid I’m not who would I be afraid of in doing i’m not afraid of rogue nations. I’m not afraid Of the threats of uh of rogue nations i’m not afraid of terrorists i’m not afraid of rogue actors I’m going to do what’s best for america. I’m going to do what I promised and um somebody wants to uh Wants to complain, you know, you have my phone number, but but i’m doing what what I think is right Right, and as you said you get to know then who supports you and who complains in a real concrete sense, right? Because it’s no longer abstract. It’s something that actually happened something that was In some sense, let’s say provocative but also Justifiable, especially from the from from the democratic legislative perspectives And so, you know who complained? I mean apart from Apart from some, you know perfunctory words of complaint that were uh That were kind of meaningless. Yeah who complained hamas, you know a terrorist organization dedicated to israel’s destruction Nobody else complained even even the pa so we don’t we don’t we don’t care about that In fact, we’re happy about it because you always want to irritate the right people in some real sense but and and and so, you know, we We we now uh, we now did a couple of things We proved that we would keep promises. We proved that we would stand with our ally israel And and and and recognize what the american people have recognized for two decades that jerusalem’s the capital of israel We’re not afraid. Okay, we’re and and we’re willing to So so what happened? um what happened was a lot of countries took notice and instead of being angry they said Wow, you know america can really be a good friend to its allies. It could be counted upon under this president How do we get in on this? You know, how do we join this circle of trust? It seems like You know, uh, you know a whole different, you know america this guy trump, you know, I want to be with him I don’t want to be against him I see. I see. So, okay. So let me ask you another question here. That’s that’s a little bit of a sideways move. Okay, so as I mentioned When I introduced you You know my ignorance knows no bounds and I want to talk a little bit about jared kushner and jason greenblatt So i’ll tell you right off the bat that I know very little about jared kushner But I can tell you what I do know and how I learned it And what I know is that he’s a reprehensible individual who was never suited for his job And he was a nepotistic appointee by the trump administration And that there was nothing good about him on any front and I learned all of that. I would say from my casual Uh interactions with the legacy media whom i’ve learned to trust about absolutely nothing and so what i’m curious about is I need to know more. I would like to know more about jared and why you and jason greenblatt and more about greenblatt as well Why you outsiders first of all were brought in and why you were able to You know, what was trump’s justification for bringing you in? Why did you agree to do this and why were you able to and willing to move the logjam? Like in some sense it makes sense, right if something’s been stuck for 50 years Maybe you don’t want to stay working with the same people who’ve been stuck for 50 years and so outsiders arguably Um at least can look at something different the counter argument would be well you guys were in some real sense I don’t think this is overstating it but foreign policy and and and and policy amateurs and so Why you what why did this the teamwork between the three of you work? What positive attributes I suppose and negative attributes did you bring to bear on the problem? and Why did it work? so, um, you know, that’s probably Uh, that question is probably Uh requires a book to fully answer uh, and and and I and I I have you know, I have some of that in in my book, but um, But I would say that first of all, uh, you know Starting off kind of on a macro level. I don’t think you have the abraham accords without jarrett kushner. I think jarrett Did two things that were essential for the abraham accords. The first of which was just generally I think he established Really, uh important relations of trust with um with with these countries now, how do you know that We announced the abraham accords the first one with the uae on august 13th of 2020 Um, this was we did it from the white house. We did it from the oval office. This was an oval office That was plagued by leaks You know as well as me leaks every day I mean every single day somebody was running to the press with something about trump what he was about to do something on flattering Uh, or even something good. I mean, but the leaks were just rampant All right when we were working on the abraham accords really, you know from the day we began We were working on our agreement with the uae for over a month When we announced the deal with the uae on august 13th, it really shocked the world Nobody saw it coming nobody. Why did no one see it coming because jarrett and I And and jason had already left the government at that point but jarrett and I And the president and mike pompeo Robert o’brien Uh mike pence that was it that was the universal people in america who knew about this um israel, you know, probably natanjahu and ron durmer and his National security advisor three or four people in uae The the level of trust that we established and jarrett was really I would say The key to all that that creating that level of trust the trust was extraordinary when they got done without trust The second thing that jarrett did which is I think maybe even more remarkable. So we put out a we put out a peace plan Okay in january of 2020 Most people consider it to be extraordinarily Pro israel in my view. I think it was It was the most the maximalist position that could be given to the palestinians Uh with uh, you know in a deal that involved israel, uh, it had the support of a right-wing israeli government um, which you know the palestinians, you know ran to the security council and ripped it up when we announced this deal There were responses, you know from saudi arabia uae a bunch of maracas other countries and jarrett worked like like he worked day and night To make sure that even though the palestinians were going to trash this deal We got you know, we got more of a positive response You know from the moderate sunni nations and we did I mean we got a we got a response from saudi arabia that said This is a good start. We think this should be the basis of future negotiations Under the supervision of the united states and that’s from saudi saudi was the author of the arab peace initiative Which is which which had been their default position for 30 years I mean it was a one-page document that israel could never accept So so, you know jarrett was able to to work these countries in a way How how how how did he do it? So, you know what? Um, I I I actually think it was um, it was in the it was in the relationship um, you know, um, uh I think first of all, um, he had huge credibility because you know in the gulf the um, You know the the almost almost always the guy who’s sort of the second in command at the gulf in any of these gulf countries Is related to the king, right? So, I mean, I I think they saw jarrett, you know as a prince, you know This is a guy who really you know, we can trust him He can deliver for the president the president’s never gonna leave this guy hanging. So he’s credible. Okay, so he’s credible Very very very credible also look, um, very very smart You know this unfortunately, you know doesn’t come across jarrett doesn’t Doesn’t do much media but very very smart. He’s got a book coming out in august. I can’t wait to read it Uh, I think oh I should interview him you should because um, I haven’t I don’t know what it says I’m really looking forward to reading it but very very smart and with his eye on the ball uh extremely loyal To israel, you know his grandparents are holocaust survivors. His parents are Have invested huge amounts of their philanthropic dollars into israel but um, but at the same time Made many trips to the gulf and just developed credibility. So so I I I think that’s That’s really the heart of it and this okay, and so let’s let’s talk about this relation issue. So He was meeting People in person I presume and and how did he pick the people and and and What is it that he offered them because we also haven’t talked about the details the specific details of the accords themselves Which we have to get into but i’m very interested in the process and so okay, so he was credible He was close to trump people assumed that he had the power to do what he said he was going to do Yes Then I think a lot of this was um You know face-to-face meetings and discussions um, you know, what are you concerned about? What do you guys need? What do you think is important for uh, For the relationship with the united states I mean it’s it’s really um A lot of talking and a lot of listening and a lot of getting to know each other and trying to find out Where there was common ground now, you know in in the early, uh years in 2017 and 2018 You know they were saying uh, some of these countries were saying to jarrett look jarrett, you know We we need to find a way to get there. It’s complicated. It’s difficult um, but you know, let’s just keep let’s just stay in touch and keep working this relationship and find Ways to uh to get closer. I mean it it wasn’t like jarrett said here’s what I want you Here’s a piece of paper sign this here’s what I want you to do It was much more right much more kind of touchy feely in the first couple of years. Yeah. Yeah Well, that’s so important day. I mean it’s also the case that it’s very necessary not to have The details of this sort of process worked out on paper By bureaucrats who actually have no power whatsoever to transform it into policy but to find decision makers who like Kushner are close enough to actual sources of power so that when the discussions occur The probability that the agreement is going to be transformed into action is extremely high And that’s a very difficult thing to negotiate if you’re only dealing with mid to lower level Bureaucrats, I mean jarrett was there often and and you know, he had three or four, you know major portfolios And this was one of them and you know, and look jason while jason was In government would trek over there as well. Uh, he’d sit and listen jacob’s Who jason’s a a great listener? He’s very very non-threatening. He’s uh, um, you know I would say i’m much pushier and more aggressive than him so You know, i’m sure that i’m sure people were happy to to listen and host him and he listens and he heard and he would come back with with thoughts and you know, we look the The we were told by everybody don’t put out a plan You know for peace between israel and the palestinians because it’s not going to go anywhere And after all these conversations we came to the conclusion that if we can come up with a plan Which at least israel is willing to accept And and explain why this is reasonable Um, and and if the palestinians aren’t going to go for it and they’re going to kind of blow themselves up on the world stage Even that I think will go a long way to convincing some of these other countries That the that that that the time that the time has passed the palestinians by it’s time to move on I mean we don’t give up on making peace with the palestinians But if israel is willing to really go forward with a with a serious plan and the palestinians just want to rip it up That that gives everybody a certain amount of cover to to start doing what’s best for their own people well, yeah, well you guys you guys you guys removed the The power they had in some sense if the state department had assumed that peace was only possible through the palestinians then That put a tremendous amount of authority and power in their hands And so by walking around them in multiple directions you eliminated that Ultimatum power in some sense that the palestinians had always Wielded the first thing we did I think your you know Your viewers might be interested in knowing the first thing we did is was back also in may of 2017 You know, there were a number of people that were speaking to the president and they were saying that the palestinians were ready to make peace um, it’s netanyahu who’s the uh, who’s the uh, the the difficult one in this relationship, uh, Go to israel beat up on bb and you know make him More reasonable and the palestinians will come to the table and you’ll win a noble prize And and a lot of people were telling him that uh, including people inside the inside government And so when the president comes to uh to israel I went to uh, I did something which I got a lot of heat for afterwards But I went and I told I said to an itanyahu look just so you know There are people the president’s being told that you’re the problem that you’re the trial. You’re the troublemaker You’re the guy that won’t make a deal And he said well, that’s not true. And I said well look, uh If you want to convince the president what I would suggest you do is let’s make a two-minute video of some of the worst things that uh Mahmoud abbas has said I mean he’s supposed to be the peacemaker Let’s put together a film nothing out of context only the other the actual statements. He’s made About how you know the blood of every terrorist is holy and that will never stop uh Helping our our our holy terrorists and we won’t give up one inch of israel and we’re going to take all of jerusalem And I mean put that let the president see it and he said to me David, you know, I’ve met with you know, countless world leaders. I’ve never Made him a made a video for them. I said well just make it maybe we won’t use it Maybe we will we got into a room got into a room and um And the the video was there uh, I was there with you know tillerson and the mcmaster and jarrett and And I said to the president did you see the film and he said what film and I said let’s let’s play the film And he looked at the film and he was shocked and he said this is the guy is this the same guy that I met with In washington. This is the guy that everybody’s telling me is ready to make peace And then the next day he goes to bethlehem to meet with abbas And for starters abbas doesn’t let me doesn’t let me attend. He banishes me from the meeting Yeah, I bet which which which got which got the president very angry and then the president just really let him have it It also signifies an intent doesn’t it that the fact that he didn’t let you come that’s that’s a very interesting and I would say Counter-strategic move on his part. It was a mistake indicates the sort of person that he is. Yeah, it was a mistake And it got the president angry and the president said to him look, you know, you’re not going to pull the wool over my eyes There’s too many people watching you right now. You know, you told me you wanted to make peace I see this video says exactly the opposite. I want to know who you are. Okay, don’t do this to me It’s a big mistake. Don’t play both sides. I’m not stupid. I can uh, you know, I I form judgments very quickly You know, who are you? And and and that also really changed the dynamics of the relationship We’ll get back to our discussion with ambassador Friedman in just a moment But first I want to tell you about helix sleep Now getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your health That’s why helix sleep provides tailored mattresses based on your unique sleep preferences If you’re a side sleeper, they have models with memory foam layers for optimal pressure relief Stomach and back sleeper models have a more responsive foam to cradle and support your body And don’t forget those enhanced cooling features to keep you from overheating at night Every helix mattress has a hybrid design combining individually wrapped steel coils in the base with premium foam layers on top It’s a perfect combination of comfort and support Get started with the helix sleep quiz and find your perfect mattress in under two minutes Plus right now helix sleep is offering up to two hundred dollars off all mattress orders and two free pillows at helixsleep.com Jordan that’s helixsleep.com For two hundred dollars off all mattress orders and two free pillows Helix mattress shipped straight to your door free of charge. Try it for a hundred nights risk-free. What do you have to lose? Go to helixsleep.com Jordan now I want to move in two directions one after the other here Let’s talk a little bit more about the details of the accord. So what is it exactly that this agreement Puts forward in principle or binds the signatory states to uae bharan sudan And morocco we can talk about the commonalities across the states and the differences But can you can you give us all a description of the fundamental nature of the abraham accords? Sure, so the abraham accords are structured in two parts. There is the there There’s the abraham accords declaration Which is the same for every country? In which there is a recognition That the parties will end their state of conflict and their state of hostilities. They will recognize each other’s uh, each other’s sovereignty they will normalize relationships and in all Different ways whether it’s cultural economic political They’ll engage in strategic cooperation on matters of common interest for their respective national securities They’ll open up embassies reciprocal embassies in the two In their countries and they’ll exchange ambassadors. So it’s basically it’s a full normalization of of peaceful relations then and now now that’s the that’s the The uh, the overall if you will common abraham accords now with each country If you look at it the way the way I tend to look at it is each abraham accord Is like a triangle you have israel in a muslim country at the base and you have america at the apex and in each case You know something different is happening. I’ll give you some examples like with sudan with sudan the um They wanted to be taken off Uh the the terrorist, okay, and and and the sudanese government had done significant things to uh to combat terrorism By getting them off the terrorist the the terror watch list The united states was able to help them with you know, some basic humanism. They needed they needed grain. They needed I mean, it’s a very poor country So in the case of sudan, you know, we we were we helped them, you know kind of end their status as a terrorist pariah They deserved it and by the way, it’s incredibly important for israel because most of the arms that were heading up into uh into hamas We’re going up through sudan through sinai into into uh into hamas into the gaza strip So that’s sudan. Um in the case of in the case of morocco morocco had a long-standing uh territorial dispute with um a group called the palisario in the western sahara We had we had felt for years that morocco Was that the world was better off with morocco having sovereignty over this territory? A lot of other countries didn’t recognize that sovereignty We recognized morocco’s sovereignty over certain parts of the western sahara That was sort of the lubricant that got them, you know to to the table in the case of uae In the case of uae, they’re really that you know uae was you know is looking for some advanced weaponry We said look we you know, we don’t there was a Israel’s entitled entitled by law to a qualitative military edge You know that assessment will be done by professionals but but clearly to the extent That you that there are no hostilities and you’ve normalized with israel and you know, you have diplomatic relationships. That’s certainly going to Going to farewell in the calculus, you know, it doesn’t it may or may not be enough That’s not for us to decide but that will certainly farewell in the calculus of your relationship with the united states And the united states military in the case of bachrain. They were actually the easiest they um They didn’t ask there was nothing in particular that was on the table But you know, they they wanted they they thought and I think correctly so that their people would be advantaged by by all the Opportunities that stem from you know the relationship with israel remember that israel has um extraordinary Uh advancements in technology whether it’s food tech agri tech water technology, you know cyber defense Financial technology, I mean they were a world leader. I would say that in cyber they’re they’re they’re they may be tied with america You know, I mean in water technology, they may be number one So, I mean there’s a lot that israel can provide once these relationships begin to bloom as a trading partner, right? Right, right? Yeah, okay. Okay. So great. Well that all sounds extremely positive and it’s it’s very interesting to see the the commonality The declaration of peace that’s explicit the mutual recognition of sovereignty. That’s a big deal the cooperation and normalization of political relationships including the establishment of embassies and the opening of doors to communication and then the cultural cooperation which allows for example for israel to be Treated and to become a genuine trading partner, which you could see I mean if if israel is in some sense the silicon valley of the middle east which I think is a perfectly reasonable way Of looking at it that could be of incalculable economic value for for the for the surrounding arab people And so hooray for that jordan if you if you go to bangorian airport on any particular day Today and you look at the flight board um there there there are um more flights leaving israel for Um abu dhabi in dubai Then I think almost any other location around the world. I mean, it’s it’s really extraordinary how this has blossomed over the last couple of years And who do you who do you think I’d like to give credit where credit is due And so we’ve talked a little bit about the americans who were signally important in bringing this about um And including in the background from what I understand mike pence So who on the side of the uae we meant you mentioned some of the leaders there How about in berraine sudan and morocco who played a signal role in those countries? So, you know, I think in morocco it was the foreign minister who um was um At all times taking his instructions from king muhammad the sixth in uae Um, they have a a very skillful ambassador to the united states named yusuf al-autaiba Who really took the lead I think on behalf of the uae but of course subject to the approval of uh, shaykh Mohammed bin zayed who is the who was the crown prince in the ruler in in in in sudan, you know They had they had a civilian government and a military Government as well. They they they had a reconcile in order to do this. They’ve since split There’s since been a a military coup in sudan the united states under biden uh That doesn’t seem to recognize anymore the abraham accords with sudan What israel does and frankly the the military the the military of sudan Continues to support the abraham accords and for israel’s purposes. That’s that’s the most important. That’s enough. Yeah, right, right And uh, you know So I mean there’s but you know, this was done, uh, just and I think you you know this intuitively But this was done at the highest levels of government of every one of the governments Right, right, right. All right. So let’s talk about consequences. So as far as you’re concerned What are the present consequences what have been the present consequences of the abraham accords as they’ve rolled out so far well, I think they’ve they’ve done enormous good for uh for american national security for israel’s national security and for the national security of all the sunni nations because um with this surfacing of diplomatic relations has also come a good deal of of additional cooperation with regard to Sharing of intelligence and you know when you look at the region and you see iran as Really a threat to everyone including the united states. It’s the largest state sponsor of terrorism anywhere in the world And so, you know the winners here are the moderate sunni nations. The loser is iran iran now has a much more coordinated Group of countries with regard to opposing their um their malign Intention so that’s that’s sort of number one number two. I think look I think if we if we were still in office I think we would be able to scale these Relations to a lot more countries including I think in particular. Yeah. Well who? Yeah, yeah. Well, look who’s who’s next on the list. Well, look, you know You know, it could be oman. It could be indonesia, but the real The real, you know big fish Is saudi arabia because saudi arabia is the great saudi arabia is the leader of the muslim world It’s the custodian. Yeah of the two holiest sites in islam and um, I think that We backslid Horribly over the last two years with saudi arabia and you just saw that over the last couple of days when uh when you saw a very very, uh unimpressive visit by um by biden, you know, he goes there and um, Um, not only does he Um kind of fumble, you know some complaints about the killing of jamal kushoji But he gets a lecture from the saudis in return about abu grape So, you know that was that that didn’t go well and um got got got no relief at all So what should what should have happened in your estimation? so the saudis like i’d certainly seen the abraham accords as and i’ve talked to some saudi leaders as well and My understanding is that there’s a quite a large contingent there that would like to Normalize relations with the western world more broadly and to move saudi arabia out of its relative isolation into something more approximating Normative relationship with the rest of the world potentially including israel and you’d think that would be a big deal You know, and so what should have happened in saudi arabia? Well, I I put out a tweet, um a few days ago saying if i were biden after I went to israel and met with the With the acting prime minister yair lapid I would take him with me on air force one I’d fly him off to saudi arabia and I would sit with him And mbs with muhammad bin salman and I would do something big I would announce some big Trilateral agreement that’s that that that’s there for the taking if you know how to do it and biden, you know fumbled that You know, obviously miserably why why why why this is obvious? This is obvious Like if I can figure this out and I don’t know anything about this if I can figure this out I can’t understand why biden and his people can’t figure this out and I can’t see anything That’s more important than doing this in some real sense. Yep, and it’s it’s like it’s like Frankly, it’s I don’t say it’s low hanging fruit, but it’s but it’s not high hanging fruit. I mean, it’s right. It’s hanging fruit um look biden, um, uh, you know, he he he boxed himself in during the campaign saying that He would treat the saudis as a pariah state He showed up here kind of hat in hand and he got nothing on uh on oil Anyway wouldn’t make a difference because inflation is at this point so rampant beyond oil I’m not sure what it makes a difference. But but the main thing I think is that you know biden is um has been told in no uncertain terms by sort of the progressive left You know, you stay away from saudi arabia, you know like he he’s he’s politically boxed in on saudi arabia Yeah, well he isn’t he isn’t boxed in unless he wants to Continue to kowtow to the radical elements of his party and the progressives He’s not boxed in as at all because as you pointed out earlier in this conversation The radical types you said 10 on each side. I think it’s far smaller than that to be frank Although I think it’s bigger on the left than on the right There’s a tiny proportion of radicals that he’s kowtowing to And he doesn’t need them and the fact that the democrats will not separate themselves from the radicals Has only ensured their electoral defeat in the fall and probably for the next presidential election So like I just think that’s complete rubbish is we can’t do this because the progressives don’t want us to it’s like no That’s not true practically. It’s not true strategically. It’s definitely a mistake ethically. There’s no grounds for it whatsoever Especially as you pointed out given that this the path forward with saudi arabia in relation to israel And the rest of the western world seems clear so it’s an abdication as far as I can see an abdication absolute abdication of responsibility on the part of The democrats, let’s say So look, I agree with you and I think a lot of this is political I mean it starts with you know, barack obama making this terrible deal with iran that has um, you know insignificant verification rights and inspection rights and expires at this point would expire in just a few years When trump got out of that deal? And and biden comes in so biden politically says i’m going to go and try to reinstate this deal He’s been chasing the iranians now for a year and a half trying to get back into the jcpoa It makes no sense, but he’s doing it because you know, that’s the deal that he and obama, you know Came up with and they want to validate that they want to they want they want somehow to resuscitate that the more Biden chases the jcpoa Which he’ll fail at anyway, I mean it’s there’s nothing to be achieved there But the more he chases that and chases this, you know this fantasy of diplomacy with the iranians He pushes the saudis further away. He pushes the israelis further pushes everybody further away And so it’s the it’s this it’s this kind of you know misguided Uh chasing after the fantasy of a diplomatic outcome with iran that precludes saudi arabia How much how much do you think this reflexive identification with the palestinians as victims is driving the necessity of Turning to the iranians instead of the saudis or is that a separate issue? Well, it may be a separate issue, but it’s the same people. It’s exactly the same people. Yeah who hold both views Right. Well, that’s why i’m curious about the the connection. Yeah Yeah, look the the it was I have to tell you This was The last few days have been a frustrating experience for me because what I saw over the last few days was a complete reversal Of all the things that we did that made the middle east a much more Safe and stable place, you know all the things that we did were kind of reversed in just a few days Throwing money at the palestinians not demanding any accountability refusing to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of all of jerusalem as the capital of israel then running to saudi arabia, you know and you know Resuscitating complaints that just resulted, you know, the saudis aren’t dumb. They they have answers for this, you know I mean so they they they go back now biden’s on his heels trying to defend abu grabe because Because he brought up uh, kashoggi Um and and from there just went nowhere he went home he went home, you know with his hat in his hand nothing He got nothing out of it. And you know We could have gotten so much more on this trip. It was I don’t even know why they had the trip I mean, why do you why would you orchestrate a trip like this if you’re just gonna insult your allies and come home empty-handed? Well, my my prime minister my prime minister Justin trudeau tends to orchestrate a trip like that when the scandals and inflation on the domestic front gets so unbearable that he needs To distract people. Yep. Yep. Well, that’s sounds like that’s exactly what happened here Okay, so let’s talk about an elephant under the carpet here So you talked a lot about making peace with the sunni the sunni moderates Where are the moderate shiites in all of this and what is the fact that they’re not at the table? like what Lurking catastrophes are associated with that and how might that be rectified? well, look the the uh, the the shiites that That are relevant here Are, you know kind of half of iraq or slightly more than half of iraq um hesbullah in uh in lebanon and in iran And um in all three cases, but especially in iran, but I mean true of hesbullah as well. They’re not moderate Uh, there there’s nothing there’s not the slightest thing moderate about them and um, and they you know, they are at this point, you know Look are there are there uh radical sunnis? Of course you have isis you have uh hamas is a is a sunni Although they’re being funded by iran but um, you know the the the primary And i’m not suggesting that there aren’t moderate shiites. I’m sure there are but but the ones that that make noise Are primarily, you know in iran and in hesbullah and they’re the farthest thing from moderate I mean they represent existential threats to the state of israel and elsewhere So why did you guys have no luck with them and what do you think might be done? by someone who was competent if they were inclined to Redress that that lack. I I don’t think there’s um, I I don’t think there’s anything that can be done With either iran or hesbullah except from a position Of real strength and and hesbullah really is is just a uh, it’s it’s a proxy For the iranians as are the houthis in yemen, right and and they’re very and they’re very dangerous And um, and they don’t accept any count. Look i’ll give you an example, which is kind of heartbreaking lebanon’s a very poor country Um, they have off they have a significant offshore Uh gas deposit that could be commercialized very much for the benefit of the people in lebanon Um, there’s a question of who owns it. I mean it’s kind of right on the seam of israel’s territorial waters And the lebanon’s territorial waters israel is willing to make a deal To solve that maritime dispute where you know, they’ll get some of the gas and and and lebanon gets some of the gas Lebanon would get a lot of gas. It would make a big deal for their economy. Hezbollah won’t let him make the deal Yeah, that that’s it. What about what about behind the scenes negotiations? Like if the if the political leaders in the sheite community can’t pull this off then Is there another level of of people in sheite culture or in other countries? As you reached out to the uae and sudan and morocco, etc Could you could you walk around iran? um in the same way No, no, unfortunately not. I mean i’m sure again i’m i’m sure there are uh people of the sheite faith who are reasonable but the um, but but but those the the shia who Control weaponry are you know in iran and in lebanon and in in syria? And in uh, and in iraq and in parts of yemen and they’re all they’re all you know, um militant terrorists They all take their instructions from iran and and and there’s there really isn’t an opportunity there the the opportunity Is for the uh, the moderate muslim world to unite with america and with israel and this threat can be defeated I have no doubt this threat can be uh can be defeated But but but I don’t think right now it can be solved except through uh, the strongest of uh, Positions taken by our allies. Okay. Okay. So let’s let’s close this up maybe if uh with two with with with Discussion about the response in the west. I was a late Learner about the abraham accords. Um, I mean the world’s been pretty weird in the last couple of years And I was also very ill and I sort of emerged from that and was informed about the abraham ham accords by some people on the ambassadorial front and became extremely interested in them for three reasons first of all because Well, look peace is breaking out in the middle east and so that was one and isn’t that surprising and then also? i’m curious because Given that this Is as far as I can tell a truly historic Accord I would have hoped that it would have been like front page two inch type news on the new york times for example and that everybody everywhere would know about all its details and then furthermore that the people who Structured it were not only nominated for the nobel prize, which is not that difficult a process to be nominated But actually to be nominated but actually awarded it since this actually constituted peace and I couldn’t help in my cynical What would you say musings? Contrast that with the willingness of the nobel committee to give a peace prize to barack obama Before president obama even had a chance to demonstrate whether or not he was a peacemaker on the international scene and so why what in your estimation has been the response in the west among intellectuals and the press and then Among well, let’s say the american people and people in the west more broadly Well, look the the the the attention from the press has been disappointing We had a ceremony on September 15th on the south lawn of the white house that day the picture of Trump and nittanyahu and the leaders of bahrain in uae It made the front page of all the major papers. So we got we got one good day out of it But the way it’s been expanded and the way it’s flourished The way it’s flourished the effect it’s had on the people of israel the people of uae Uh, the the optimism and opportunity Is brought to the middle east? None of that has been has been covered at all and I think it’s all because of because it came from From from us from the trump administration. Yeah, but that’s that’s no bloody excuse here. That’s no excuse like this isn’t This transcends the political as far as i’m concerned and I think as far as anybody reasonable would be concerned and It’s important to give the devil his due and that’s the case even if the devil happens to be trump and his damned minions And the facts seem to me to be clear on the ground that this represents a significant and very unexpected move forward on the peace front in the middle east and that’s been a problem that has threatened all of us for For 70 years for longer than that on all sorts of fronts And so the fact that people don’t want to give trump credit for this because he’s trump that is still utterly inexcusable and I don’t I really don’t understand it because It means in some real sense that the narrow Political enmity that was directed towards trump for better for worse for warranted or unwarranted I don’t really care. That’s not the issue. The issue is that under trump this extremely significant event occurred I think it’s significant in the same way that the fact that trump didn’t entangle the united states in any stupid wars for four years Was significant and also extremely underplayed. I mean at least he managed that and that’s not nothing but then to also cap his four years which were definitely conducted under extreme duress And and intense corrosive cynicism again regardless of his flaws to cap that with the abraham accord and then to be ignored by intellectuals in the west denigrated and at minimum damned with faint praise and then also to be ignored by the noble prize committee That’s not just politics. That’s a kind of willfully blind corruption. That’s unforgivable in its depth You won’t you won’t get an argument out of me You know i’ve uh, we we well am I overstating it? I mean are there reasons? Are there reasons that you and I aren’t delving into why this hasn’t been more? Hasn’t been more celebrated like because I don’t want to devolve into the narrowly political here, you know I’m really trying to understand this and The abraham accords they’re enough to bring a tear to your eye if you have any bloody sense well, look if you um, uh, let’s just be clear, I mean this this this was not a question of uh, Of neglect this was an affirmative decision by the media and by the democratic party to minimize the the benefits and the impact of the abraham accords remember, you know early on Uh the first year of the biden administration um there, you know, the state department spokesman was asked about the um abraham accords and um And he would say yes, you know, these are uh, uh, you know These are normalization agreements where where um, you know, we’re gonna Work on you know advancing normalization agreements and the reporter would say why don’t you just say the abraham accords? I mean, why don’t you use that phrase and he said well, what do you mean? I mean i’m Referring to them as normalization agreements. That’s what they were I mean they played this silly game of cat and mouse. They wouldn’t even use the words Abraham accords because frankly, it’s a very powerful brand for these uh for these agreements Yeah, that’s for sure. Yeah, it’s a great phrase. It’s great. It’s a great title who came up with that by the way Uh, so that’s that’s a great story. So, you know, we were about to go live Just on august 13th Again, there’s there’s there’s there’s five or six of us who know about this We’re about to go live with a telephone call between trump Uh and the head of uae and the head of israel and um, it’s like 10 minutes before we go live and the guy comes running in he’s a he’s a general mcgill carey who’s Who worked with us on this? He’s a two-star general He came running in and said we need a we need a name and I said why do you need a name and he said well You know these agreements all have names oslo accords camp david accords and I said to him do you have any ideas? He said how about the abraham accords, you know abraham was the father of the jewish faith the muslim faith christian faith I said, wow, that’s terrific So we quickly called up, uh the israelis and the amirates and they signed off on it and that’s how that’s how we got got the name Yeah, well getting the name right is really important. So that was a very wise move on on his part Yes, so So I should mention too to everyone that you wrote a book about this Sledgehammer, what’s the full what’s the full name of the book sledgehammer? How breaking with the past brought peace to the middle east And when was that published it came out a little over five months ago on february 8th of uh of this year It had the biggest Um week of any book on israel in the last 10 years is what the what the publishers report it was It’s thank god been a very successful book Well, that’s good have have any of the intelligentsia so to speak Which is a hated name as far as i’m concerned at the moment has has anybody reviewed it seriously? And and how has it been received? It’s been received. Well, it didn’t get um, you know, it wasn’t reviewed by you know, the new york times or uh, Or some of those. Yes. Well, why would it be right? It’s just about it’s just about peace in the middle east, you know Why would you review a book about that by one of the authors of the accord? It was also, you know a book I think about um about the kind of the the the inner fortitude it took to fight the conventional wisdom the the headwinds if you will of the state department and the defense department and how and how important it was that I had the support of the president because you know Whether it was moving the embassy or recognizing sovereignty over the gullion heights or the peace plan Or or changing our view on the legality of settlements in the west bank I mean we did all these different things and every one of them was opposed by numerous government agencies So it really was about The runway of the support the confidence I was given by the president because at the end of the day If you have the president’s support, you don’t need the support of any of these agencies. It’s only when the president, you know Right, you know it goes on to some other thing which you consider is more important that you’re stuck in the morass of the agency Well, the president gave me Huge amounts of authority and runway and that I think was the key to a lot of the success Um, so right so he gave you some autonomy and some trust and so well kudos to you Jared kushner And jason greenblatt anybody else you want to include in that inner circle on the american side who was key to the success of this You did mention mike pence anybody else you thought was I know there’s a huge team, but well it wasn’t it actually wasn’t the huge team I mean mike pompeo was uh was essential because at the end of the day, you know, um, You know jarrett and I uh, you know, we have a relationship with the president. We have authority But we’re not the secretary of state. We’re not we’re not we’re not in charge of the u.s foreign policy So we needed mike to really jump in and engage And provide the types of assurances that as much as we were trusted I mean the the right messaging needed to come from the state department We had a young guy, uh, abhi burkowitz who worked for jarrett who was on the phone day and night, you know working the lower level relationships and uh, it was very helpful and And that’s about it. I mean that’s about it. It was a relatively Small group of people that worked, you know, really day and night, especially towards the end of the trump administration to getting this done Well, thank you. Thank you to all of them. That’s for sure from everybody in the world who has any sense I would say so let me just summarize what we discussed and then maybe you can add a few additional comments if you’d like the accords Involve at minimum declaration of mutual peace recognition of mutual sovereignty Uh the establishment of a framework of cooperation in principle and reality including the exchange and establishment of Ambassadies embassies and also cultural cooperation that could bring the benefits of mutual trade to those countries Uh, it’s a major accomplishment. It looks expandable perhaps to countries like oman indonesia and saudi arabia, especially on the sunni side And it’s an amazing achievement and I would like to shame the nobel price committee for making a tremendous error in Failing to note with the prize that should have been awarded for what appears to me Uh a signal A signal accomplishment of the first part of this new millennium, you know My my job was very much on the us israel side of the relationship um, I think we proved something which um, I fear that the uh, You know kind of the left-wing elites are sliding back on but what I what we proved And I said it at the beginning and president trump said it at the beginning Is that israel really is a solution in the middle east not a problem? And you know for 70 years the state department viewed israel as a problem to be managed not as an opportunity to be harnessed and And I think we’re sliding back in that direction right now, you know with with the last few months of uh of u.s policy but um, you know, we when we we advanced all these Preliminary initiatives on behalf of our ally our cherished ally the state of israel Not only did they not bring violence, but they brought peace and I think that message is one that we can scale and extrapolate Um, you know going forward and I really hope we do Well, let’s say amen to that and all pray that this does move forward as it should and that wise heads prevail outside of the domain of Narrow-politicking and and partisan advantage So i’m going to follow up this conversation for those of you who are listening I do a behind-the-scenes 30-minute interview with everybody I talk to now on On the daily wire plus platform and i’m going to talk to ambassador friedman and in a more personal sense I would say and and detail out the Development of his career across the span of his life in so far as we can manage that in 30 minutes I like to give people some insight into how people who have done who have accomplished signal achievements have Come to that position Hello everyone, I would encourage you to continue listening to my conversation with my guest on dailywireplus.com