The Eric Metaxas Show - David Friedman (Encore)

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

David Friedman Former Israel Ambassador David Friedman Talks New Film 'Route 60'.

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And now here's your Ralph Cramden of the Airways, Eric Mattexas. Hey there, folks. Very special show today. My guest is David Friedman. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Donald Trump. He is a Nobel Prize nominee and National Security Medal recipient for his efforts in helping secure the historic Abraham Accords. He's also the best-selling author. of a number of books. David Friedman, welcome. Eric, thank you so much. Great to be with you.

I had the privilege last week of being at Bedminster National Golf Club with the president and a number of pastors where you came on Skype or Zoom and gave a presentation on the thing we're going to talk about today. And I was so excited in hearing about it, and I thought I get to interview you about this right now. So before we get into your background, because I want to, let's just start with the headline. There's a film coming out. Just talk briefly about that, and then we'll kind of backtrack. Sure. Well, the film is called Route 60, the biblical highway. And it is not just about a road, although it tracks this road, which is the biblical spine of Israel. It begins in Nazareth, ends in Beersheba. It's 146 miles long.

And I would say that around 90% of all the Bible stories that you and I might be familiar with, either happened along that road or within a few kilometers in either direction. When I heard you talk about this last week, you didn't know I was in the room. But as I heard you talk about this, I thought, I'm always amazed when I'm hearing something hugely important that I've not heard before. And so you're sharing this stuff, and I'm just kicking myself. I'm thrilled and I'm kicking myself. how is it possible that I didn't know this? Because what you shared was, is utterly central to history, utterly central to the history of Israel.

And you said that it falls along what is now route or route 60 in Israel. Yes. Is that a coincidence? I mean, how is it that it happens to be falling along what is today, Route 60? This is stuff that happens, some of it, you know, 35 centuries ago. Sure. So this road goes back 35 centuries. It wasn't blacktopped. It didn't have lane markers in those days, but it's the same road. It had been, it was a road that basically if you think about I-95, you know, along the east coast, you know, sort of the midpoint is Washington, D.C. So think of Route 60 as sort of the road from north to south. The middle is Jerusalem. And, you know, for thousands of years, pilgrims, mostly Jewish, but not always Jewish. Jewish, came to Jerusalem for the three major festivals, and they came along this route from the south. They headed north, north, they came south. And this is called, it's been called for many years

the path of the patriarchs, because it's a road that was walked by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. It was walked by Jesus when he lived in Nazareth, and he came to the temple for, as we know, he came many times, or Bethlehem is along this road. So it's a place of enormous importance to Jews and Christians alike. It's literally the path that all of our biblical heroes took thousands of years ago. And when was it named Route 60? Was this like in 1948 or in the 50s? I mean, when did this historic road become Route 60 in Israel? Yeah, it's been called Route 60 for about, you know, 75 years. I don't think any particular thought was given to the number that was given to it. Right. Well, the whole thing's kind of funny because this is like an issue of branding. I mean,

When you talked about this the other day, that what lit me up was, wow, so that road is still there. And if we walk along that road, we're walking along history. Now, part of how you got into telling it, I want you to reprise that here, you know, you talk, because a lot of people myself included are not very familiar with the situation to Israel. You talked about what's called the West Bank and whatever that. a lot of what we know to be historical to Israel, the Palestinians are claiming it as their territory. And that's one of the reasons it's really important that you vote for the right candidate because this is really, really central to world history. But talk a little bit about that.

Because when you talk about, you know, where Route 60 starts and, you know, coming down, It goes through territory that today is technically Israel's, but that the Palestinians are boldly claiming somehow is theirs. So, look, this begins in 1949 where, you know, Israel declared its independence and seven Arab countries declared war on Israel. Most people thought Israel was going to get pushed into the sea miraculously. It survived, and there was an armistice line in 1949 that was established. It wasn't a border. It was the line where the Arab country said, look, we're going to stop fighting on this line, but we reserve the right to push you into the sea on another date. Because it had no significance. It wasn't negotiated as a border. And that's this thing called the Green Line. And the Green Line was somehow considered off limits to the Jewish people. Jordan controlled this area that is referred to by much of the world as the West Bank from 1949 to 1967. The Six-Day War comes along. Israel in six-day war.

days defeats all of its enemies and it recaptures the West Bank, which in biblical terms, and in theological terms is referred to as Judea and Samaria. And that's what this land is. Now, we think of Israel as the land of the Bible, and it is the land of the Bible. But much of the Bible took place on the other side of the green line, on the part, on the side of the green line, that much of the world thinks the Jewish people have no right to be. When I was in office, I worked very closely with my partner in this film, Mike Pompeo, and Mike reversed that. Mike, you know, there's a thing called the Pompeo Doctrine, where Mike is, you know, on behalf of America, the State Department has said that the Jewish people do not violate international law by living in their biblical homeland.

So we made huge progress during the Trump administration. But that's what we're talking about. This road is a road that a lot of people never get to. They don't get to see it because most tours that bring people to Israel don't go over this. green line. Well, it's amazing. You shared the other day, and I want you to share now, what is on the other side of that green line? Now, there's when you talk about the history of Israel, what are some of the places along Route 60 that, you know, a lot of people say, well, you know, the Jews don't really have a right to be there. That's Palestinian territory, even though technically

it's Israel. Sure. So we start off in the north with a place like Shrem called the Shekhem, I guess, you anglicized it. It's where Abraham first came when Abraham received the call from God. He wasn't in Israel. He was in, you know, on the border of Syria and Iraq. And he came down to this town called Shlem. That's also the place where when the Jews returned from Egypt, after being exiled in Egypt, this is where Moses brought the bones of Joseph that were, that to this day. So where is this roughly? Is this in the north and the south? This is in the north. Right. Now, you go down another 20 kilometers or so, and you're in a place. called Shiloh or Shiloh.

Now there's about 50 to 100 American towns called Shiloh, right, because this has such biblical significance. Shiloh is where the first place where the Jews stopped wandering when they returned from Egypt. Where they built the tabernacle famously in the wilderness. I know there's some excavations going on in Shiloh at the site of what they believed was the tabernacle, but it doesn't get more central. I mean, the idea of the tabernacle in the wilderness, you know, you think that. that that could be ground zero in terms of where is Israel.

But you're telling me today that is in this disputed territory. It's there, and it's where the tabernacle rested for 369 years. By the way, it's where Hannah taught the world how to pray. You know, there's a spectacular episode in the book of Samuel, or Hannah is whispering, and no one knows what she's doing because nobody prayed before, right? And the high priest says to her, are you drunk? Because he didn't understand what she was doing,

and she says, no, I'm speaking from my heart to God. And this is really the origins of prayer in Shil. Now you go down another 10, 15 kilometers, and you're in Bethel, right? Another 50 to 100 towns in America called Bethel. This is where Jacob had the dream of the ladder ascending to the heaven. Angels going up and down where God promised Jacob that he would become a great nation. And we could just go on and on. I want to go on and on.

We'll be right back. We're talking to U.S. Ambassador to, Israel under Donald Trump. David Friedman is my guest. Don't go away. Tell me why Relief Factor is so successful at lowering or eliminating pain. I'm often asked that question just the other night. I was asked that question. Well, the owners of Relief Factor tell me they believe our bodies were designed to heal. That's right. Designed to heal. And I agree with them. And the doctors who formulated Relief Factor for them selected the four best ingredients, yes, 100% drug-free ingredients. And each one,

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Snow, sea, man, those hungry hunters tracking down the... Welcome back to my privilege to have in the studio with me, David Friedman. He was the ambassador, U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Trump. And we're talking now about a genuinely excited. film that you and Secretary Pompeo are the hosts of called Route 60. People can find root 60.movie is the website, root 60.movie. This will be in theaters, and we're talking about it, September 18th and 19th. So people can pre-order tickets at Route 60.

Dot movie. But what you're describing again, I'm marveling at the fact that I didn't know most of what you're saying. It's a little astonishing. me that when you describe these seminal moments in history, biblical history, that they happened along Route 60. Let me ask you, what was the provenance of this concept of making a film? Was it TBN? Was it you? I mean, because it's such a brilliant idea. You kind of think, why did we wait till now to make it? So, TBN and I did a project a couple of years. ago, a four-part documentary on the Abraham Accords. And it still streams on TBN. And it was such a good experience. I just started thinking of what to do next. And, you know, I called Matt and said,

what do you think of this? And I raised this issue about Route 60. Serving in government for four years as the ambassador to Israel, one of my great frustrations is when I got there, the U.S. government, the State Department policy was you can't set foot over the great. green line. You can't set foot anywhere in Judea and Samaria. That's not part of Israel. And, you know, my response was it's not part of Israel. I mean, first of all, there are a lot of Israel. This half a million Israelis living there, but it's not part of Israel. I mean, these places, these biblically incredible places, including, by the way, Jerusalem, parts of Jerusalem, are not part of Israel. And they said, no, no, we don't consider it part of Israel. And when I heard that, I said,

okay, well, we got to change that. So I was the first U.S. ambassador in 75 years to actually travel over to the Green Line to go to these holy places. You know what that's called? That's called chutzpah. That's called having guts. That's called leadership. And I want to congratulate you on that. I see that Trump is also that kind of a leader.

People who are willing to color a little bit outside the lines, in this case, almost literally, and say, excuse me, but that's not right. And we need to break that precedent because it's kind of like going along. with China with regard to Taiwan or whatever. And if you're not a little bit heroic and a little bit tough and willing to push back a little bit,

you know, you're helping the dark forces. And it seems to me that our State Department has been dramatically guilty of that over the decades, being unwilling to challenge. I mean, I think of Reagan, you know, in Berlin saying, Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall. The guys in Foggy Bottom did not want him to say that. So it seems to me that you're part of challenging, you were part of challenging the establishment when you did this.

When you said we're going to move the embassy to Jerusalem, everybody says, you can't do that. And you said, well, yes, we can and we should, and we will. And you did. And the sun rose the next day. And there were no wars. There were no irreconcilable conflicts as a result. you know, we've been disserved over more than 100 years in our foreign policy by not challenging conventional wisdom. And I was very blessed to have a boss who said to me, you know, you do what you think is right.

We knew each other a long time, and he trusted me, and he gave me the runway to make these changes. And the world's a better place for it. I mean, we've made peace, not war as a result. I mean, it's so dramatic. You know, people need to know, need to give Trump credit for what he did with regard to Israel. It is monumental. It is historic. I think you said it the other day, and it's true.

Other than Harry Truman, you can't think of a president that was so pro-Israel, that was so heroically strong for Israel. And it seems to me that, you know, the forces of darkness always kind of dangling. there's going to be violence. Be careful. Be careful. Don't do that. You're going to cause trouble. You're going to cause trouble. And when Reagan said what he said to Gorbachev, it ended the Cold War. It didn't end the Cold War. We won the Cold War because of his kind of muscular heroic stance. And similarly, you know, I remember reading the papers. Just, oh, if Trump does this, he's such a nut. If he pulls this off, it's just going to cause violence in the Middle East. And you just said, no, it didn't. It didn't. And apart from the importance to Israel, it's incredibly important to Americans, too, because, you know, we're living in a time when we are growing more and more untethered from the values they made our country so great. So where do those values come from?

You know, Isaiah makes it very clear. Out of Zion goes forth the law, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. This is the wellspring of all the values that animated, you know, all the great actions of our founders. to form this great country, and we're just losing sight of them. Now, you can say, well, these are ideas that they don't lock to a territory, but it's not true. When you go to these places, and you can go to these places by physically visiting them, as Mike Pompeo and I did, where you can watch the film. It's not as good, but it's a close second, but you can see maybe plan a trip in the future. When you reconnect with these places, you really are reconnecting to these values

and recharging, you know, your moral batteries in a very important way. Did you get any push, back on making this film from those people that, you know, would say, oh, we're not supposed to cross that line. We're supposed to stay over here. No, we had actually great support from the Israeli government, from the IDF, which had to protect us from time to time. This is a story that many people have been waiting for decades to be told. You know, they hear all these stories about the West Bank. that word doesn't really do any justice to what we're talking about. I mean, the West Bank is, you know, a little area alongside the Jordan River, where the river flows. This is a big territory where literally every one of our great biblical stories that we think about

and study when we're kids and extrapolate into broader ideals as we get older, it all happen on this road. I want to ask you before we get into the film itself, more into the film itself, what were you doing before president? President Trump decides to make you U.S. ambassador to Israel. What was your life before that? It was a lot less interesting. It was, I was a partner in a big law firm for 35 years. I had the privilege occasionally, not that often, to represent President Trump.

That's how we got to know each other. I had the blessing. Nothing other than a blessing to have won every single case I had for the president. And some of these cases weren't easy. And I'm telling you, at the time, I didn't see it as anything more than, you know, a day at the office. But it really established a relationship that I had with him that put me in a very good position. I think a godly designed position to then flip into this role and do some good things. I don't think there's any doubt about it.

I mean, moving the embassy to Jerusalem, there is no other word to describe that other than historic or epical, huge, gigantic. And you shared this the other day, and maybe you shared again, that every president said, we'll do this except, you know, unless there's some kind of security reason not to do it. That's when they talk about abortion. They talk about the life of the mother. Those are called weasel words. They say that so that they will never do it. And that's basically what you're talking about here, that presidents over and over and over again said we're going to do it.

Not a single one of them until Donald Trump had the guts actually to do it. That's an extraordinary thing. And today, the embassy is in Jerusalem. It's in Jerusalem. The move was very popular. One of the things that I take great pride in is that when, President Trump went all around the country, right? I'm not talking about New York or Miami where there's large Jewish communities,

but he would go to the heartland and he'd speak to 20,000 people. And he would talk about his record as president. You know, and it took a certain path, you know, domestic issues. When he got to, about an hour into the speech, he talks about how he moved the embassy to Jerusalem. It was the biggest applause line all around the country. It was so gratifying to see so many people. feel so good about it.

And look, it's going to stay there. I mean, even, you know, the administration that we have now, which I think is lacking in how they treat Israel, even they're not going to move it, because it's so popular and it's so right that it's there. I want to get back to the film and remind people before we go to our break that you can find out more about the film,

go to Route 60 or Route 60. Dot movie. Route 60, it's 60. Route 60. It will be in theaters, September 18th and 19th. I recommend it highly. Hey, folks, you've all helped support MyPillow and their employees in these tough economic times. Mike Lindell knows this and continues to give back to listeners with deals on his most popular products.

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Act fast. It won't last. Use promo code Eric for more specials. 800-978-3057. Use promo code Eric or Mypillow.com. Welcome back, folks. I'm talking to David Friedman, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Trump. And I'm very excited that you're with us in the studio here.

You'll notice TBN has a nice studio. Beautiful. But I'm really excited because. because TBN has brought pastrami into the green room that you said you're not going to eat, so I'm going to eat the pastrami when you leave. In all seriousness, I want to talk about the details of the film.

So this is you and Mike Pompeo, giving us a tour of Route 60 in the film, Route 60. What else does Route 60 go through? Because when you just mention a few of these places, Shechem or how do you pronounce it? Schem. Schem.

Schem. Good. Kizenheit. Schem. Or, obviously, in the Bible, it may be written Shechem, but hugely important site. You mentioned Shiloh, where the tabernacle in the wilderness was, and you said it had been called the path of the patriarchs. Route 60, yes. Route 60. So tell us what else do we find if we watch the film.

What else is along Route 60? So it starts in Nazareth, right, which is the birthplace of Jesus. we wind down to the altar of Joshua. A fascinating place. You never find it in a million years if you just got into your car and used a GPS. Is it well marked? It's not well marked.

How can that be? David, how can that be? I don't get it. Hopefully it'll become well marked one day. The altar of Joshua. Yeah. And understand what this altar is. Joshua takes over for Moses

on the eastern side of the Jordan River. an impossible, impossible task, brings the Jewish people, the Jewish nation across the Jordan River. God gives him a layup, the first battle, Jericho, right? Walk around seven times, blow your horn, and you win, right? Next battle already, Joshua loses. He's now doubting, you know. Is it I? Aye, exactly.

The battle of I. Because one of the soldiers took from, you know, looted Jericho, he wasn't supposed to do that. That was the punishment. Joshua is now, you know, one for two. He's doubting his role. What does he do? He reconnects with God. On the downward slope of Mount Eval, he builds an altar. He writes his own Ten Commandments. He prays to God. And he goes from being a soldier to being a leader. To really, you know, this is where I think, you know, his motivation to really build the Jewish nation. Because remember, Moses never brought the Jews back to Israel. You know, he passed away in Jordan, mountains of Moab, right? Joshua was the first one back, and he now forges the Jewish nation, realizes it's not just about winning wars. It's about reconnecting with God, about building the altar, about fulfilling the commandments, about building a Jewish nation, not just a military force. And this altar, right, which is 3,500 years old, it's just on the side of a mountain, you know, a rocky mountain on Haribol, which, of course, is biblically significant in and of itself, It's down a valley, and the other side of the valley is Mount Griesium.

This is where the blessings and the curses were given by God to the Jewish people. So we stopped there, okay? But the idea that this is not marked, this just kills me. It's not marked. So what is there? How do we even know that this is the altar of Joshua? Well, we took the trip with an archaeologist, so we weren't just making this up. And you can see it.

I mean, you can see the altar where it was built. And it was built in the right place. But how, in terms of branding, I mean, you know, if you're, we have it with states, you know, in the United States or with countries or whatever. It's like, we need to like, we need to sell the sizzle. What are the historic sites? Let's make sure that we have signage and we've got, you know. Yeah, we're a long way off from that. But how is it possible with a prime minister like Benjamin Netanyahu that these things have not been marked out?

I mean, I'm kind of amazed to hear this. Because I would say the short answer is the world denies Israel's right to this territory. And there's a huge amount of controversy every time Israel does anything to recognize its biblical heritage. The same is true. It's Bethel. Look, this is, you know, that dream of Jacob's Ladder. I mean, how many places are referred to as Jacob's Ladder? If you took a car there, you'd break your axle. I mean, it's really rough terrain to get into this place. But obviously we don't know exactly where he lay his head on a rock and have a dream, but we have some sense.

We're a pretty good idea, I'll tell you, because we make those references in the film. We have a pretty good idea that this is, you know, if it's not the exact rock, we're certainly very much in the right area. I mean, this is amazing. So this is an historic film Ambassador Friedman. As you share this, I think to myself, this is, it's groundbreaking. because pilgrims will go on this journey after they see this. They have to ask to go because you can run this tour. It's not easy.

And there will be places when people will recommend taking bulletproof buses. I mean, it's that some of these places are that sensitive. But the upside of being there and connecting to this land is tremendous. Well, it's amazing. Glad he didn't get shot. Did you? No, I almost got shot when I was in the office, but not there. Is that true? Yeah, because I was down in the south, right, along the Ghazan border,

and a bunch of my guards shoved me into a car. I was pretty angry at them when they told me I was in the crosshairs of a rifle from Hamas, so I guess that was okay. Nice guys. Yeah. Nice guys. All right, we're talking to Ambassador David Friedman. the website, Route 60 or Route 60.

Dot movie, and it's the number 60, root 60. It will be in theaters, September 18th and 19th. You really need to go see this. Bring the kids. We all need to get educated along these lines. This is big stuff. We'll be right back. Welcome back talking to David Friedman, U.S. Ambassador to Israel under Donald Trump.

And we're talking about this film. What a great idea. Congratulations on this. Route 60 is the film. Again, I was amazed when I heard you talk about this the other day that I had not heard about this before, that all of these historic sites, they can be denied as being some of the most important historical sites in the history of the Bible, happened in what is today being claimed by the Palestinians as this is our territory, you know, stay out. It's the West Bank. We know that's not right. And you had the guts to make a film about it, and we get to see this film. So I'm just excited about it. So tell us what else is along Route 60 through Israel. What else would we find? So I think I'd mentioned Bethel. When you go south of Bethel, you go to, you're in Jerusalem. Probably the one place that some of your viewers are familiar with, but, you know, deeply important to Jews and Christians. We spent some time in the Garden of Gathemite,

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall, the Temple Mount, spent a good amount of time talking about it. And then we went to a place that, I guarantee you, very few people have gone to, which is the grave, the tomb of Rachel. Now, you know that Hebron, which is further south, which we also went to, is the site of three patriarchs and three matriarchs. Jacob's wife, Rachel, died in childbirth as she was giving birth to Benjamin, and she was buried on the side of the road.

And Rachel is the day that Rachel passed is sort of the Mother's Day of Israel. Israel doesn't have a Mother's Day per se, but, you know, when you ask, you know, who's the mother of Israel? It's Rachel. And Rachel, you know, in the book of Jeremiah, is portrayed as someone who's never at rest. She's buried on the side of the road. She's not buried with her husband. She's not buried with her sister. She is perpetually crying for her children.

And Jeremiah says to Rachel, God will stop your crying one day, and your children will return to their borders. It's one of the great prophecies of the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. And Rachel's tomb is a place where people who really need to pray, really need something, you know, some of them are ill, Some of them can't conceive a child.

Deep fervent prayer takes place in Rachel's tomb. And I have some personal stories by my experience there, which I share. I, you know, one of the canopies that sits over Rachel's tomb is a wedding dress. It used to be a wedding dress. And it was the dress of a young bride who was sitting with her father. in Jerusalem the night before her wedding. And a suicide bomber came in and blew her up and blew her father up. And so instead of a wedding the next day, we had a funeral.

And so my cousin, who was engaged to this bride, to bring meaning to this, he took her wedding dress. That was never worn. And it's now hung over Rachel's tomb as a canopy. And it's that symbol of the perpetual tragedy and triumph for the Jewish. Jewish people. You know, on the one hand, the great tragedy of people who never were able to realize the potential of their lives. On the other side, it's the great triumph that the Jewish people are back in their land. And as Jeremiah said to Rachel, they've returned to their borders. So it was deeply moving for me personally. I got to say, that's hard not to be moved by that, even if you

weren't directly related, which you were. That's an unbelievable story. So how far south of Jerusalem are we at that point? We're just a, you know, a few miles. A few miles outside of Islam. So near Bethlehem. Near Bethlehem, exactly. And then, of course, we went to Bethlehem, which, you know, speaks for itself as a very important place.

And then we went to Hebron, you know, which is not as accessible as it should be because it's an incredibly important place. It's where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah are all buried. It's where... And do we know, forgive me for asking such stupid questions, but do we know where they're buried? Do we know? Here we know exactly where they're buried. Exactly. And 2,000 years ago, King Herod built a big monument around their graves, which still stands today. It's one of the few 2000-year-old buildings that wasn't destroyed by anybody. Wow. Because... That is interesting.

Because, you know why? Because you have a place that speaks to all three Abrahamic faiths. Yeah. It's a place where, you know, both Isaac and Ishmael, Jews and Arabs, buried their father, Abraham, and nobody wanted to destroy it because it kind of belongs to everybody. And so the tomb of the patriarchs and the matriarchs was something deeply important. And, you know, great credit to Mike Pompeo because, you know, here's a former Secretary of State going literally where no Secretary of State has ever been before, you know, not even close. So, you know, it's a major, I think, statement of his character and his belief. leaf to come to these places. And then we we kind of ended the trip in Beersheba, which is the

end of the road. Again, it starts in Nazareth, ends in Beersheba, 146 miles. And, you know, Beersheba also where almost all of the biblical patriarchs lived at one point in their lives. And so obviously Jerusalem is not in across the line. Well, it's split. So Route 60 kind of bisects Jerusalem between the old. city in the new city. And eastern Jerusalem is on one side. Western Jerusalem is on the other. And now, of course, Israel has, you know, since 1967 has declared its sovereignty over all of Jerusalem. But again, you know, the world, other than America in a couple of small countries, the world doesn't recognize that. And America doesn't recognize it if you have the wrong guy in the

White House. Let's be blunt. Trump was heroically pro-Israel. There's no way around it. He was his son-in-law, his daughter, his grandkids are Jews. And so he is very pro-Israel just for that. But I mean, he acted on it. And this is what I always do. And people talk about character. Doing what you say you're going to do is one of the principal ways you look at someone's character. Is somebody a talker?

Most politicians, presidents, even presidents that I have liked, they have said things and never followed through. George W. Bush never made the move to put the embassy in Jerusalem, even though he said he would. And Donald Trump did. And that's just dramatic. And I think that when we come back, we can talk more about this. But who our political leaders are couldn't be more important. People need to take that very seriously. We'll be right back.

you're shorn. I tell you chum, it's time to come blow your horn. I'm talking to David Friedman, who was U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Trump, and we're talking about a new film. It'll be in theater September 18th and 19th called Route 60. You can find out more at Route 60.org. You can find out more at Route 60.org. what was the conversation, if I can ask you, that you had with President Trump around the concept of we're going to move the embassy. We're going to do something that's not been done in the history of national Israel. We're going to move it to Jerusalem. Everybody said you can't do it.

What was the origin? How did that come about? So we had lots of conversations about it, but the president wanted to get to the, the right decision. He called a select group of people down to the situation room. This was going to be the final discussion. He goes, I want to get to an answer. And so we're sitting in the room, basement of the White House in a secure room, with then-secretary of State Tillerson, Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, the National Security Advisor, the head of the CIA, a couple other people, and me. And the president said, okay, I know that there's only one person here who's in favor of this.

you know, David, so you take the pro and I want everybody who's against it to come up with the cons. So we went through a robust discussion. And then, you know, at the end of the conversation, you know, the president said to me, okay, make your final case. I want to hear that, you know, what's your best argument? And I said to him, you know, Mr. President, I think the world is really watching right now. And as you alluded to earlier, Eric, the world is looking to see whether you're a regular politician who campaigns, you know, with a bunch of promises and never keeps them.

or whether you're different, whether you're the person who you claim to be. And I'm going to tell you something. If you keep your promise and move the embassy to Jerusalem, that's just not going to just resonate in Israel. That will resonate in North Korea or resonate in Russia or resonate in Iran or resonate in China. Absolutely. People will know that you have the guts to keep your promises and you're not flinching from the threats of rogue nations.

And he said, that has to be the right answer. That has to be the right answer. And that was really how this came about. It was a long discussion, but that was really the synopsis of it. And if you think about it, did we have any wars? Any new wars during that period of time? Did we have any issues we have now? You talked about this the other day.

When we come, and look, this is so basic. Any idiot should know this. I mean, you teach your kids. You want to be strong so that you can defend the week, not so you can bully the week, so you can defend the week. And when the United States is strong, whether it's China or North Korea or Iran, whoever it is, they know we better think twice before we do X or Y or Z. And when you project weakness or confusion as this administration has been doing, you invite trouble. That's been the case over and over and over again.

and a strong America is the hero of the world. We can do things. We can get things done. And that, to me, this is the classic case of that. Also doesn't hurt to do something which brings to you God's blessings, right? Well, the two usually go together strangely, right? That when you do the right thing, you get God's blessing. But particularly, I can't think of anything more on the nose, you know, this idea that we're going to do this thing.

in Israel, we're going to stand with Israel, you know, you're going to get God's blessing. And so it's an extraordinary thing. We achieved energy independence. We were able to stand up against, you know, OPEC countries and just accomplish so much. The Abraham Accords, we don't have time to get into that. But I just want to say congratulations to you, Ambassador Friedman, and to Secretary Pompeo and to TBN for making this film. it strikes me as genuinely important. It's Route 60, and again, you can look it up Route 60, Route 60.

Movie. Ambassador Friedman, thank you. Eric, thank you so much. Appreciate it.