David Friedman and Alan Dershowitz joined Trump’s Rabbis call

Israelis and U.S. Jews should be ‘optimistic’ about the Trump administration succeeding in brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, President Donald Trump said during a pre-High Holidays conference call with Jewish community leaders and rabbis on Thursday afternoon.

Trump suggested that the recent cuts in aid to the Palestinians were made to pressure the Palestinians to return to the negotiations table, according to an audio recording obtained by Jewish Insider. “The U.S. was paying them a tremendous amount of money, and I say, ‘You get money, but we are not paying you until we make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, we are not paying you.'”

Trump suggested that the recent cuts in aid to the Palestinians were made to pressure the Palestinians to return to the negotiations table, according to a recording obtained by Jewish Insider. “The U.S. was paying them a tremendous amount of money, and I say, ‘You get money, but we are not paying you until we make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, we are not paying you.'”

Trump’s comments were in response to a question posed on the call by famed law professor and author Alan Dershowitz.

“Should the Jewish community be optimistic that you could help bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict that we all pray for all the time?” Dershowitz asked, after praising Trump for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

“I think the answer to that is a very strong yes,” Trump responded. “I really do believe we are going to make a deal. I hope so. It would be a great thing to do.”

“I am a very proud father of a Jewish daughter, Ivanka,” Trump told the participants at the start of the call, adding that he’s also proud of his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

At the conclusion of his opening statement, Trump said, “We renew our pledge to confront anti-Semitism and hatred in all of its forms.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman also spoke on the conference call. According to Friedman, the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has become a “major tourist site” in Israel. “People come there almost every day. People just pull up their cars in front of the embassy, they get out, take pictures. I see some people praying there. I have actually seen many people crying there,” Friedman said.

Friedman also said that the U.S. is currently looking at a site that would serve as the Ambassador’s official residence in Jerusalem.

This post was updated