President Donald Trump has much leverage to persuade both Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza, former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman told Newsmax on Tuesday.
Representatives from a coalition of Arab nations have rejected Trump's proposal to relocate displaced Palestinians from Gaza into Jordan and Egypt, but the president continues to press the idea.
"We've seen in a couple of weeks the kind of leverage the president has all around the world ... President Trump is willing to use that leverage," Friedman told "Newsline."
Friedman emphasized that the United States gives Jordan and Egypt "a lot of money."
"Jordan is not in a position to really be a standalone country without the assistance of the United States. ... You can make the same case for Egypt, although, they don't like to admit that."
The former ambassador said "Israel helps Egypt tremendously with their security," but Cairo did not do a good job of preventing weapons from entering Gaza and going to Hamas.
Friedman also pointed out that Egypt has much space in the Sinai Peninsula to help resettle refugees.
"This is a time of reckoning for all the countries in the Middle East to understand that this is a collective problem. They have to step in and join the world and the community of nations and solve these problems," he said.
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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