This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.David Melech Friedman (born August 8, 1958) is an American bankruptcy lawyer and the former United States Ambassador to Israel.

He was narrowly confirmed by the Senate, officially sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence on March 29 and presented his credentials on May 15.

[7] In 1994, he left the now-defunct law firm Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon to form the bankruptcy practice at Kasowitz, Hoff, Benson & Torres.

[25] On June 1, 2017, in accordance with his predecessors, President Trump signed an executive order keeping the embassy in Tel Aviv instead of relocating it to Jerusalem.

"[27] On December 15, 2016, the transition team of President-elect Donald Trump announced that Friedman had been selected to be the nominee as the United States Ambassador to Israel.

Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, said that moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and annexing West Bank settlements would lead to the "destruction of the peace process" and send the region down a path of "chaos, lawlessness, and extremism".

[29] Friedman had said in an interview for Haaretz during the campaign that Trump would be open to Israel annexing parts of the West Bank.

[37][38] Five former United States Ambassadors to Israel – Thomas Pickering, William Harrop, Edward Walker Jr., Daniel Kurtzer, and James Cunningham – signed a letter declaring Friedman unqualified.

[40] Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, said Friedman "has the potential to be the greatest US Ambassador to Israel ever".

[36] The Republican Jewish Coalition and Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, both supported the nomination.

[42] The hearing was contentious; protesters from Americans Muslims for Palestine and the Jewish group IfNotNow were arrested after interrupting the proceedings several times.

[54] He succeeded Leslie Tsou, who served as the interim chargé d'affaires after Daniel Shapiro left the position on January 20.

[58] The New York Times in January 2021 described Friedman "as one of America’s most influential envoys" and as someone "who drove the radical overhaul of White House policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

[60] For his work negotiating the Abraham Accords, Friedman was nominated alongside Jared Kushner for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.

The nomination, submitted by Alan Dershowitz, also names Kushner's aide Avi Berkowitz, and Friedman's counterpart Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer.

I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”[66] On 13 June 2023, Friedman endorsed Trump for President.

[67] Alongside Mike Pompeo, Friedman featured in the 2023 documentary Route 60: The Biblical Highway, directed by Matt Crouch.

[68] In June 2024, Friedman published One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, with a foreword by Mike Pompeo.