Former President Donald Trump with former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman on Feb. 22, 2024. Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images

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.”

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.  

Mobilizing Jewish and evangelical voters with annexation plan 

Republicans making the case for Trump to Jewish voters point to his Mideast record as president: the relocation of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the recognition of Israel’s control over the Golan Heights, the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the brokering of the Abraham Accords. For Friedman and Trump’s allies, the annexation project – which the Biden-Harris administration and many Jewish Americans oppose — is unfinished business from Trump’s first term. “This is a huge opportunity for the expansion of the Abraham Accords around the concept of ‘One Jewish State,’” Friedman wrote. 

Miriam Adelson, the widow of GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson and herself a major Trump backer, indicated that on her list of key demands from a second Trump presidency is support for Israeli annexation. At the first presidential debate in June, Trump declined to say whether he favors the creation of an independent Palestinian state as a post-Gaza war plan. “I’d have to see,” he said.

“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. “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’s annexation plan echoes the controversial Project 2025 blueprint by a Trump-allied group to overhaul the federal government and embrace Christian Nationalist ideals. The document, written with the help of former Trump administration officials, champions the Abraham Accords and more financial support for Israel. In response to fierce backlash and attacks from the Harris campaign, Trump has distanced himself from the group.

U.S. support for annexation is “based first and foremost on biblical prophecies and values,” Friedman writes. The movement for Israeli sovereignty “hearkens back to basic Judeo-Christian values of kindness, human dignity, humility and prosperity.” 

Friedman’s push to cut Palestinian aid conflicts with Trump’s efforts to win Arab American votes in Michigan.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

This is Friedman’s second book. In his previous memoir, Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East, he detailed his nearly four years at the U.S. embassy in Israel.

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