Former US Ambassador to Israel David M. Friedman spoke at an event in the Knesset on Tuesday organized by the Victory Caucus led by MKs Ohad Tal (Religious Zionists) and Evgeny Sova (Yisrael Beytenu).
"It is the time and the place for sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. It doesn't matter whether you are a person of faith or an atheist, if you are looking for the best outcome for the regional stability, for the state of Israel and all its neighbors I believe it's Israel's opportunity and responsibility to assert sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria."
The former ambassador spoke about his new book which outlines how Israel should assert sovereignty. One of the ways to do this, he said, is to use the template of the Israeli Arab community, "Israel does not get enough credit for the way it treats its minority community. If you go back and look at the way America dealt with the Japanese in World War Two, they were attacked in Pearl Harbor and proceeded to take all these Americans who had nothing to do with that attack and put them in concentration camps in America, a very dark history. That was the reaction of the US to a sense of threat from within a certain community. Israel didn't go in that direction. Israel has empowered its Arab community, if you look at the penetration of Arab Israelis into society, it's extraordinary."
He added: "That's something Israel should be rightfully proud of and it doesn't seek enough credit for it. But that template is the right template for adjustments in Judea and Samaria. Israel is uniquely able to create peace and prosperity for all the inhabitants of Judea and Samaria."
Friedman explained that one of the things that led him to write his book was President Joe Biden's reaction to the October 7th massacre. "President Biden, of whom I've not been shy to criticize, and his team, including the Secretary of State all said that the answer to the Hamas attack on Israel is a two-state solution. I said, well, the world is now upside down. The easy argument is what the Knesset did and what I agree with is say 'Look there can't be a two-state solution.'"
He recounted a meeting he had with former President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020 about efforts to declare Israeli sovereignty over Area C in Judea and Samaria: "The President made a good point, he said, 'Look, let's play this out, what's going to happen? Israel's going to assert sovereignty over half of Area C, the Palestinians are going to yell and scream, over time that will bleed into the rest of Area C. So Israel will have sovereignty over Area C, and now you have Area A and B, give me any argument why those areas won't become just as radicalized as the Gaza Strip?' My solution was not to take Area C and leave Areas A and B to the winds of chance, but rather for Israel to take control over the entirety of the land given to it by G-d in the Bible and to say, 'We're going to assume responsibility.'"