--:-- [Sound of a news theme music fades out]
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to this weekend edition of Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, Daily Wire editor-in-chief, and I'm here with my co-host Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for joining us, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Today, we're discussing President Trump's bold and surprising proposal to take over Gaza during an official state visit from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Joining us now to discuss this proposal is former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
--:-- David Friedman: Thank you for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, Benjamin Netanyahu is the first world leader to visit the White House in Trump's second term, which is significant in and of itself. And there was a lot of news that came out of Tuesday's meeting. From your perspective, what was the biggest issue that came out of this press conference?
--:-- David Friedman: Well, the first thing is, I know them well, and I've been in the room many times when they've spoken, I have a pretty good feel for the body language. And so as I'm watching, I'm seeing between both of them, you can tell there's like fundamental agreement. This is not just for public consumption. It's real. There's fundamental agreement, I think, on a few things.
--:-- John Bickley: So, let's talk specifically about the control of Gaza, how to handle the aftermath of the war in Gaza and what to do with the people currently there. Trump really sent some shockwaves throughout the world on this with talk of the U.S. taking over and leading the rebuild. How did you interpret his proposals for Gaza?
--:-- David Friedman: I think he is looking at a 50-plus year problem that only seems to get worse. And he's overlaying on that the amount of money wasted in Gaza and the enormous economic potential of Gaza, which you know, only a guy who's in business who understands what it means to have 25 miles of sunset beachfront in this tiny area. He's looking at both the incredible violence and waste and human misery, and then he's looking at what this could be.
--:-- Georgia Howe: When you were working on this, you know, we always had one gating issue when it came to Gaza, which is how are we going to get Hamas out? Like, who's going to rule Gaza who won't threaten not just the people of Gaza, but Israel as well?
--:-- David Friedman: I mean, who's out there? Hamas didn't just take over Gaza. They were elected, and they have a lot of support there. And they're just a brutal, cruel, ruthless, Nazi-like regime. And we just couldn't envision what it would look like in a sort of ground-up organic restructuring, if you will.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, what's different now, because in those days, you know, not easy to talk about moving 2 million people out of their territories. That's hard to do, even though for my direct conversations with lots of people who come from Gaza, many people would love to leave.
--:-- David Friedman: I mean, there are people who will get on the media and say, you know, we're going to fight to stay here, but there aren't a lot of people who really feel that way. But notwithstanding that, you know, moving people against their will is much more challenging than today, when today they can't stay. Whatever the legal issues may be, whatever the moral issues may be, they can't stay. There's no place for them to stay. There's not a building there which wouldn't be condemned by any zoning board in the United States.
--:-- John Bickley: So, let's talk about the logistics of this. Trump really wants to take control of Gaza, and he's talking about moving 2 million people out of there. How realistic is that prospect?
--:-- David Friedman: I think that's a function of American leverage and President Trump's persuasiveness. But look, starting with Egypt and Jordan, these are countries whose very existence is very much dependent upon America and to some extent Israel. Like in Jordan's case, a huge amount of financial aid comes from America, a huge amount of intelligence cooperation comes from America and Israel.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Within the neighboring countries that would take them in, I assume there's a lot of concern about radicalization amongst the refugees. How legitimate and prominent a fear is that?
--:-- David Friedman: Well, it's always a fear, and it's a question of where they go and what their lives look like. They've learned, unfortunately, a very painful lesson, which is that radical Islamism leads to misery. They've experienced that firsthand. Maybe, you know, before October 7th, they thought there was a way to be both a radical terrorist and perhaps have a roof over your head and food on your table. But I think they understand these things can't live side by side.
--:-- John Bickley: In terms of the U.S., quote unquote, taking control of Gaza, what exactly would that mean? Would this be a permanent situation or is this U.S. troops coming in to help clear it out and then U.S. contractors that come in to rebuild infrastructure? But then ultimately this stays under the Israeli government's control. What would that actually look like?
--:-- David Friedman: I don't know. I don't know. I mean, the actual, you know, who's holding title? I mean, if I were guessing, and this is just a guess, I would guess that the ownership of the economics of the rebuilt Gaza, meaning if the United States comes in with partners and builds hotels or condos or shopping malls, the things that prosperous societies have, I would think the economics of that will belong to whoever puts up the capital.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ambassador, thank you so much for talking with us.
--:-- David Friedman: My pleasure. It was a good conversation. Thanks for doing it.
--:-- [Sound of a news theme music fades in]
--:-- John Bickley: That was David Friedman, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and this has been a weekend edition of Morning Wire.
