Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East
The Trump administration’s peace agreements in the Middle East were the greatest foreign policy accomplishment in decades. Now, for the first time, his ambassador to Israel explains how they pulled it off.

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity. For decades, the U.S. State Department called it diplomacy.

David Friedman was an outside candidate when President Trump appointed him U.S. ambassador to Israel. He took office to find U.S.-Israel policy stuck in stalemate. For years, accepted wisdom was that extensive experience and detailed knowledge of Middle Eastern history and culture were necessary to negotiate treaties. In truth, Friedman realized, all parties played on that accepted wisdom to stall—expecting to get a better deal further down the road.

Tossing the State Department playbook aside and incorporating insights from his many years as a negotiator in the American private sector, Friedman and a small team with no prior diplomatic experience revamped American diplomacy to project “peace through strength.” He emphasized the importance of leverage, the key to any good negotiation. After painstaking, behind-the-scenes work, the Abraham Accords were signed: a historic series of peace deals between Israel and the five Muslim nations.

In Sledgehammer, Friedman tells the true story of how the Abraham Accords came about. He takes us from the Oval Office to the highest echelons of power in the Middle East, putting us at the table during the intense negotiations that led to this historic breakthrough. The inside story of arguably the greatest achievement of the Trump Administration, Sledgehammer is an important, inspiring account of the hard, hopeful work necessary to bring long overdue—and lasting—peace to one of the most turbulent and tragic regions of the globe.

"1139439987"
Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East
The Trump administration’s peace agreements in the Middle East were the greatest foreign policy accomplishment in decades. Now, for the first time, his ambassador to Israel explains how they pulled it off.

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity. For decades, the U.S. State Department called it diplomacy.

David Friedman was an outside candidate when President Trump appointed him U.S. ambassador to Israel. He took office to find U.S.-Israel policy stuck in stalemate. For years, accepted wisdom was that extensive experience and detailed knowledge of Middle Eastern history and culture were necessary to negotiate treaties. In truth, Friedman realized, all parties played on that accepted wisdom to stall—expecting to get a better deal further down the road.

Tossing the State Department playbook aside and incorporating insights from his many years as a negotiator in the American private sector, Friedman and a small team with no prior diplomatic experience revamped American diplomacy to project “peace through strength.” He emphasized the importance of leverage, the key to any good negotiation. After painstaking, behind-the-scenes work, the Abraham Accords were signed: a historic series of peace deals between Israel and the five Muslim nations.

In Sledgehammer, Friedman tells the true story of how the Abraham Accords came about. He takes us from the Oval Office to the highest echelons of power in the Middle East, putting us at the table during the intense negotiations that led to this historic breakthrough. The inside story of arguably the greatest achievement of the Trump Administration, Sledgehammer is an important, inspiring account of the hard, hopeful work necessary to bring long overdue—and lasting—peace to one of the most turbulent and tragic regions of the globe.

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Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East

Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East

Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East

Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East

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Overview

The Trump administration’s peace agreements in the Middle East were the greatest foreign policy accomplishment in decades. Now, for the first time, his ambassador to Israel explains how they pulled it off.

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity. For decades, the U.S. State Department called it diplomacy.

David Friedman was an outside candidate when President Trump appointed him U.S. ambassador to Israel. He took office to find U.S.-Israel policy stuck in stalemate. For years, accepted wisdom was that extensive experience and detailed knowledge of Middle Eastern history and culture were necessary to negotiate treaties. In truth, Friedman realized, all parties played on that accepted wisdom to stall—expecting to get a better deal further down the road.

Tossing the State Department playbook aside and incorporating insights from his many years as a negotiator in the American private sector, Friedman and a small team with no prior diplomatic experience revamped American diplomacy to project “peace through strength.” He emphasized the importance of leverage, the key to any good negotiation. After painstaking, behind-the-scenes work, the Abraham Accords were signed: a historic series of peace deals between Israel and the five Muslim nations.

In Sledgehammer, Friedman tells the true story of how the Abraham Accords came about. He takes us from the Oval Office to the highest echelons of power in the Middle East, putting us at the table during the intense negotiations that led to this historic breakthrough. The inside story of arguably the greatest achievement of the Trump Administration, Sledgehammer is an important, inspiring account of the hard, hopeful work necessary to bring long overdue—and lasting—peace to one of the most turbulent and tragic regions of the globe.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9798200853021
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 02/08/2022
Product dimensions: 5.60(w) x 5.80(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

About The Author
David Friedman served as the United States Ambassador to Israel from 2017 to 2021. Under his leadership, 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. He lives with his wife Tammy in Jerusalem.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Sledgehammer-Birth of a Metaphor 1

1 Donald and Me 11

2 Israel and Me 24

3 The Trump Campaign 39

4 Confirmation Controversy 52

5 Battling the State Department 64

6 Trump in Jerusalem 72

7 The Daunting Challenges of Daily Life 79

8 "If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem" 95

9 How to Build an Embassy in Three Months for Half a Million Bucks 107

10 Countering False Narratives 120

11 Saving Unknown Lives 132

12 Undividing Jerusalem 140

13 Peace: From the Outside In 148

14 The Storms before the Storm 167

15 A Vision for Peace 182

16 The Abraham Accords 198

17 Peace Progresses 214

18 Cleaning Up 222

Epilogue: Peace Is Possible 232

Appendix: The Abraham Accords Declaration 237

Acknowledgments 239

Index 241

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