David M. Friedman, left, with Donald J. Trump and his daughter Ivanka in 2010. Mr. Friedman has said he does not believe it would be illegal for Israel to annex the West Bank. Credit Bradley C. Bower/Bloomberg.
Once again, a Trump pick has proven to be the worst possible choice. David Friedman has been chosen as ambassador to Israel, and he’s considered to hold scarily far right views, even among the far right. I’m sure he has a “good brain” though, and that will make the specter of no peace whatsoever okay.
President-elect Donald Trump named David M. Friedman as ambassador to Israel on Thursday — proving that the Israel-Palestinian peace process is basically screwed for the next four years.
Friedman, a bankruptcy lawyer and previously a Trump campaign adviser on Jewish world issues, has zero diplomatic experience and holds far right views on Israel — even among the far right in Israel. Friedman opposes a two-state solution because he believes that the number of Palestinians in modern-day Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza — currently over 6 million and expected to equal the number of Israeli Jews by the end of 2017 — is exaggerated.
“There are always creative ways to allow people to live in peace,” Friedman told Haaretz in June. “It is not always about the land. We don’t accept the idea it is only about land. Nobody really knows how many Palestinians actually live there.” He also told the publication that Trump doesn’t see a Palestinian state as “an American imperative at all.”
It should come as no surprise, then, that Friedman doesn’t believe Israeli settlements on Palestinian land — which are considered illegal under international law — are an obstacle to peace. In fact, he is president of the American Friends of Bet El; the Bet El settlement was build on private Palestinian land without approval, but Friedman’s group has sent it millions of dollars over the past few years. (Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has donated at least $20,000 to the organization.)
[…]
Friedman has also called for the United States to “veto any United Nations votes that unfairly single out Israel,” labelled the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement as anti-Semitic, and called Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands a “false notion.”
The appointment of Friedman falls in line with Trump’s own views on Israel and Palestine. The president-elect has shown remarkably little interest in helping the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Instead, he has said the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank should “keep moving forward,” promised to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and pointed to the illegal wall separating Israel and the West Bank — referred to as the “Apartheid Wall” or “Berlin Wall” by Palestinians — as inspiration for what the United States should do on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“President-elect Donald Trump named David M. Friedman as ambassador to Israel on Thursday — proving that the Israel-Palestinian peace process is basically screwed for the next four years.”
So, nothing changes.
He makes his intentions so clear. How can people in good conscience still ask that he be given a chance?
rq #2
Because they aren’t asking for him -- they’re asking a chance for themselves. They want to be friendly with the new president, maintain their wealth and stature and still be considered liberals. They want to tacitly support fascism, but find it offensive when someone calls them fascists too.
@rq #2:
Who’s trying to give him a chance? Otherwise fairly reliable pro-Israel congresspeople are calling him out for his extremist, pro-settler views. But, in any case, he’s not going to be formulating US policy towards Israel-Palestine. It’s the people who think he’s a good choice for Ambassador who will ultimately be making those decisions and will be doing so regardless of who ultimately gets named to the post. In other words, he’s a symptom, not the disease.
You’re right, of course, AlexanderZ.
drken @ 4:
You misunderstood rq. That remark was about Trump.
For his next appointment, the trumpster fire will try to find an amish dude to put in charge of the department of transportation.