Trump picks a Five Towner with solid Zionist credentials to represent America at US embassy in Jerusalem

President-elect Donald Trump has announced that he intends to nominate David Friedman, of the Five Towns-area community of Woodsburgh, to be ambassador to Israel, promising that Friedman would serve from Jerusalem, a city he described as “Israel’s eternal capital.”

Friedman, a bankruptcy lawyer who has for years worked for Trump and his real estate development business, davens at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst. He’s been one of Trump’s main emissaries to the Jewish community.

“The bond between Israel and the United States runs deep, and I will ensure there is no daylight between us when I’m President,” Trump said.

A prominent Long Island supporter of Trump’s campaign, Cedarhurst attorney Shalom Maidenbaum, told The Jewish Star that as speculation grew that Friedman might be appointed, “the whole community was rooting for him.”

“David speaks from his heart and soul,” said Maidenbaum, who has known Friedman for 30 years. “America and Israel are his driving forces.”

Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem “would be the fulfillment and embodiment of Shivat Tzion, our return to Zion after 2,000 years,” Maidenbaum said. “The detractors of Israel will always be detractors; worriers will always be the worriers. There is a right and there is a wrong, and this is the right thing to do.”

Former Village of Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner, a co-president of Religious Zionists of America, said he is “excited and pleased by the appointment.”

Friedman, 57, is a partner at the Kasowitz law firm in Manhattan. His family has a history of ties to Republican presidential candidates (it hosted President Reagan for a Shabbat lunch in 1984).