Let My People Know

For four years, I had the honor of representing the United States of America first as the senior advisor to the U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and then as the special envoy for economic normalization for the Abraham Accords. I was an ordinary person blessed with an extraordinary opportunity and the chance to witness history as it was being made. During those years, I frequently sat in the room with others who likewise thought of themselves as ordinary people set in positions of extraordinary importance—particularly Ambassador Friedman, but also many others such as Jared Kushner, Mike Pompeo, and Nikki Haley, to name just a few. They took their jobs extremely seriously and treasured each moment they had to make a difference. I learned invaluable lessons from my boss and my colleagues, and from leaders I interacted with in Israel and the Abraham Accords countries.

This book was written to let my people know what I saw and learned, and to share my thoughts about how the United States can build upon the unprecedented success of the Trump administration’s Middle East policy culminating in the historic Abraham Accords. Middle East peace had always been regarded as an unsolvable puzzle. Here I explain the principles that were applied to prepare the way for solving it. I bring readers into the room with me to watch as policies are being formulated.

Where I use quotation marks, readers should understand that I am generally giving a close approximation of the words spoken. There are personal vignettes, but no damaging revelations about anyone. With very few exceptions, the people I worked with were admirable and did their very best to advance the interests of the United States.

Because I am writing from my direct experience, I devote considerable space to my own activities on the job. It is first of all my personal story. But I always understood that my experience was part of a much bigger story. I can illustrate the point with a story that I read when I was ten years old and recounted many times to groups I met with in Israel. Right after the basketball game in 1962 where Wilt Chamberlain famously scored 100 points, a reporter asked a team member who had scored 2 points how the game would be remembered in history. Without hesitation he answered, “Tonight will be remembered for all of history as the night that Wilt and I combined to score 102 points.” I have since learned that the story is apocryphal, but I am sharing it because in my embassy job I was rather like the anonymous 2-point shooter in Chamberlain’s 100-point game.

I was offered the position of senior advisor by David Friedman because he knew me personally, and for the next four years I spent every waking hour trying to repay the trust that he—and through him, the U.S. government—had placed in me. History will credit the courage and vision of some remarkable leaders during those four years, but visionary leaders need team members who can execute their ideas. I am proud to have been part of a great team working on behalf of the greatest country in the history of the world. I want to Let My People Know that history was made in the Middle East during the four years of the Trump administration. This book is intended to showcase the ideas and policies that brought success and to demonstrate how best to build upon it in the future.