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Tags: david friedman | donald trump | benjamin netanyahu | gaza | refugees | hamas | hostages

Amb. Friedman to Newsmax: Netanyahu, Trump Talks Vital on Global Strategy

By    |   Sunday, 02 February 2025 01:11 PM EST

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming meeting with President Donald Trump will prove vital as the second phase of the Israel-Hamas hostage deal is complex, David Friedman, the former Trump administration ambassador to Israel, told Newsmax on Sunday.

"The first phone call that President Trump made after he was elected, after he took office, was to Mohammed bin Salman, to MBS, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, so these two countries are figuring very large in the overall global strategy of the president," Friedman said on Newsmax's "Sunday Report."

Meanwhile, the United States and Israel will not accept an outcome that does not involve Hamas surrendering or leaving Gaza, said Friedman.

"They've shown no inkling of doing all of that so there's a lot to deal with there," he said. "At the same time, look, what the president has done with Israel in the first couple of weeks has been historic. He unlocked all the weaponry that Joe Biden had held up, including those 2,000-pound bunker buster bombs which are necessary for Israel to deal with the Iran nuclear facility. It was a very strong signal."

Netanyahu, while leaving Israel Sunday, commented that the decisions that have been made in the war have "changed the face of the Middle East" and that by working with Trump, "we can redraw it even further and for the better."

"The decisions we made in the war have already changed the face of the Middle East," he said at the airport before his departure.

Friedman said he does not want to get ahead of Trump's plans, but said that his wish that Jordan and Egypt take refugees out of Gaza is "bold, historic, and creative."

"If he can accomplish that, and we've tried that in the past without success," said Friedman. "If you can accomplish that, that will change forever the threat of the Gaza Strip and also increase the potential for rebuilding the Gaza Strip."

And if the eastern side, with Judea and Samaria, can be incorporated into Israel, "as I advocate under the one Jewish state theory," that means Trump is considering "historic, bold opportunities," he added.

Friedman further said that Trump can overcome Egypt and Jordan's rejections of his plans.

"The president has shown just in a couple of weeks how much influence he has in the world," he said. "The United States has almost $1 trillion a year military budget. The dollar is the reserve currency of the world. It's the largest economy. And we give enormous amounts of foreign aid to Jordan and to Egypt. So the president certainly has the leverage. And unlike his predecessors, he's willing to use it."

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Sandy Fitzgerald

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming meeting with President Donald Trump will prove vital as the second phase of the Israel-Hamas hostage deal is complex, David Friedman, the former Trump administration ambassador to Israel, told Newsmax on Sunday.
david friedman, donald trump, benjamin netanyahu, gaza, refugees, hamas, hostages, deal
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2025-11-02
Sunday, 02 February 2025 01:11 PM
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