New York Times opinion columnist Thomas Friedman, one of President Biden's favorite writers, is urging him to follow in part former President Trump's plan for a two-state solution in the Middle East.
After visiting Israel and the West Bank, Friedman came to the conclusion that America needed an active "vision for how the Gaza war must end" in a column published Tuesday.
"The Biden plan — are you sitting down? — could actually use as one of its starting points President Donald Trump’s proposal for a two-state solution," Friedman wrote, "because [Benjamin] Netanyahu embraced that in 2020, when he had a different coalition. (Netanyahu and his ambassador in Washington practically wrote the Trump plan.)"
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Friedman argued that Prime Minister Netanyahu has "offered no suggestion of how and from where an alternative, legitimate Palestinian governing authority ready to work with Israel might emerge," which he wrote was a direct, "in-your-face rebuke of the Biden administration position articulated by Secretary of State Antony Blinken last Wednesday."
Friedman suggested that Netanyahu is "campaigning in the middle" of the Israel-Hamas war by refusing to consider a two-state solution, the long-sought but never-achieved peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Biden needs to make clear that America will not be Netanyahu’s useful idiot," he continued. "We are going to lay down the principles of a fair peace plan for the morning after this war — one that reflects our interests and that will also enable us to support Israel and moderate Palestinians and win the support of moderate Arabs for an economic reconstruction of Gaza after the war."
Friedman referenced Trump's plan to give "Palestinians about 70 percent of the West Bank for a state, plus an expanded Gaza Strip and a capital in the area of Jerusalem," telling Biden that he should now support that plan.
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"The Palestinian Authority foolishly rejected the Trump plan outright instead of asking to use it as a starting point," Friedman wrote. "This is a chance to make up for that mistake — or be exposed as unserious."
Freidman is one of Biden's favorite columnists, per Axios. "President Biden, befitting his generation, loves newspapers and the classic columnists," according to the outlet. "David Ignatius, Tom Friedman and David Brooks top his list." Friedman has even had a private lunch with Biden since he became president.
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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