Story highlights David Friedman said the Trump administration's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process would be guided by Israel.

Friedman also expressed his belief that most Arabs would prefer to live under Israeli rule.

(CNN) Donald Trump's pick to be ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, said in an interview earlier this year that the Trump administration's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process would be guided by what the Israeli government wants to pursue.

Friedman, a fiercely pro-Israel bankruptcy lawyer who first worked for Trump in the 1990s, added that a Trump administration would undo the Iran nuclear deal and expressed his belief that most Arabs would prefer to live under Israeli rule.

The comments reinforce Friedman's hardline position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is a departure from long-held US support for the two-state solution. In an op-ed in August, he wrote the two-state solution was just "an illusion that serves the worst intentions of both the United States and the Palestinian Arabs." Friedman said in a statement issued by Trump's transition team announcing his nomination that he was looking forward to relocating the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, a provocative move that could threaten US relationships with Arab allies.

Friedman made the comments to Israeli TV in June, when he was advising Trump on Israel.

"What Mr. Trump believes is that any solution that Israel will propose, whether it's a two-state solution or it's some other creative, out of the box solution, which was designed to bring some incremental level of peace or tranquility to the region, he will be guided by what the Israelis want to pursue," Friedman told Israeli station Channel 2. "Again, what I said earlier I'll repeat. Israel is a friend. The United States under a Trump administration is going to be loyal to its friends. It's going to trust its friend."

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