God put Trump in White House, says US ambassador to Israel

The US Ambassador to Israel believes Donald Trump was sent by God to occupy the White House following the president's proposal to cement Israeli sovereignty and end a decades-long conflict with Palestine.

Asked by journalist David Brody whether the president is "heaven-sent for you guys" ambassador David Friedman told the Christian Broadcast Network that he believes "God runs the world, and that would apply to the president".

He said: "The president supports Israel because I think it fits with his essential understanding of who's right and who's wrong, who's surviving against the odds, who's creating democracy in a sea of challenges around it."

Mr Brody asked whether Mr Friedman, who is Jewish, believes that "God puts people in certain places in certain times, for such a time as this".

He replied: "I think God puts persons in places for certain times, at all times."

"And Trump is exhibit A of this?" Mr Brody asked.

Mr Friedman said: "He sure is."

The ambassador said that Mr Trump has "surrounded himself" with support for Israel, describing the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, one of the architects of the Israeli plan, as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as "Israel's best friends." Mr Kushner is Jewish while Mr Pence and Mr Pompeo are both evangelical Christians.

"But above them all", Mr Friedman said, "the president has really been Israel's best friend."

The 181-page plan effectively caters to Israeli demands under PM Benjamin Netanyahu and has been roundly rejected by Palestinian officials, who were not invited to White House talks. The plan would carve out a fractured Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank and would allow Israel to annexe the Jordan Valley and all occupied territory.

As dictated by White House policy under the Trump administration in 2017, Jerusalem would be recognised as Israel's capital and would be under Israeli control, with a Palestinian capital appointed to the eastern outskirts of the holy city.

The plan also would deny Palestinian refugees the right to return to lands they had fled or were forced from decades ago that are now inside Israel.

Asked how the US Christian evangelical community influenced the plan's drafting, Mr Friedman said he has an "enormous amount in common" with evangelical Christians. "They're believers. They believe in the divinity of the land of Israel."

Since his 2016 campaign, Mr Trump has courted the support of right-wing American evangelical groups and pastors, catering to demands for anti-abortion legislation, conservative judge appointments and support for a right-wing Israeli state that many evangelicals believe will aid in the second coming of Christ with Jewish rule over the Holy Land. The president also launched an "Evangelicals for Trump" campaign this year as he heads into 2020's election.

Mr Friedman said Israeli control over Palestinian land would open a massive tourism industry for Christian evangelicals.

The ambassador claimed that Jewish and Christian holy sites that are currently within Palestinian territory — including Shiloh, Hebron and Al-Bireh — are "completely neglected" and that the US will help assert Israeli control over them. Those areas also contain Muslim holy sites.

Israel "has not obtained sovereignty over those territories", he said. "Our plan contemplates that Israel will."

"You're talking about opening up the Bible and bringing it back to life", said Mr Friedman, who called the plan "an opportunity for Biblical tourism that will grow and flourish in profound ways".

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