Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich arrived on Monday for a tour of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, as part of the minister's official visit to the United States. During the tour, Minister Smotrich said, "Here, next to the Declaration of Independence, at the conclusion of a tour of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, the message that resonates here and forever is never again, never again." "We have a country that protects us, but there is another country, Iran, that seeks, as it was back then, to destroy the State of Israel and we must never remain silent. This is the message that must resonate here from the chilling tour with this optimistic ending, the Declaration of Independence at the Holocaust Museum here in Washington." "The visit to this place is shocking and significant," said Smotrich. "The cursed Nazis beat us during the terrible holocaust at an unimaginable and inhuman price of blood. Precisely out of the greatest rift our nation has ever known, we arose and established a strong, growing and prosperous Jewish state." Related articles: Smotrich is bringing down the PA's banks Amnesty Israel summonsed to defend tax benefits Land in Jordan Valley recognized as State land 'If murderers are released, we'll leave the gov't' "As a grandson of survivors who survived the hardships of the Holocaust, I am obliged to do everything so that it never happens again. The memory of the six million who were murdered, who are no more, is engraved in our hearts. The Israeli nation will never again go like sheep to the slaughter," vowed the Minister of Finance.
Former President Donald Trump made a statement sharing his praise for David Friedman, former US ambassador to Israel who has published his memoir "Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East", sharing the journey Israel and America took to reach new unprecedented strides for peace in the Middle East. "David Friedman has written a memoir in which he explains how our foreign policy of “peace through strength” brought about unprecedented support for Israel and once-in-a-lifetime peace agreements between Israel and five Muslim nations (with more to come)—the Abraham Accords. His book is aptly named "Sledgehammer". Go to Sledgehammerbook.com to order your copy and learn more about how American foreign policy is supposed to work—making us stronger, safer, and more prosperous at home and abroad. Congrats to David on a great new book!" said Trump. In his book Friedman shares how the Abraham Accords, a new policy introduced into the Middle East took off, changing the perception of what it takes to achieve peace in this region. Friedman details how he led the US in its "steadfast and historic" support of Israel, which some expected to result in an "explosion of violence," according to a source at Harper Collins. Friedman served as the United States Ambassador to Israel from 2017 to 2021. Under his leadership and extraordinary insights and negotiation skills, the United States made unprecedented diplomatic advances, including moving its Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and, of course, brokering the Abraham Accords. For his efforts, Friedman was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and received the National Security Medal. The book's title, "Sledgehammer," is a double entendre for both the ending of status quo in Israel policy and a moment in 2019 when Friedman took a sledgehammer to a wall at the unveiling of a new archaeological site in Jerusalem’s City of David, which lies underneath the neighborhood of Silwan. Related articles: 'Biden is saving Hamas by trying to stop Israel' 'The Future of Judea & Samaria' sovereignty plan 'Biden committed negotiating malpractice' Blinken under fire for reversing 'settlement' policy