Donald Trump's Pick for US Ambassador to Israel Signals Changes in US Policy

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for the next U.S. Ambassador to Israel is drawing wide-ranging reactions from jubilant praise to heated criticism.

Trump’s choice, David Friedman, holds distinctly conservative views in direct opposition to long-standing U.S. policy positions. Friedman opposes a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, actively supports Israeli settlements and advocates for Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, maintaining that the occupied Palestinian Territories are not occupied.

Most notably, he also wants to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thus recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a disputed city of which both Israelis and Palestinians claim ownership. Jerusalem is home to the Israeli legislature, the Knesset, and the Israeli Prime Minister's office.

Friedman, who has no career experience with either policy or diplomacy, is an Orthodox Jewish lawyer who advised Trump during the campaign. A close friend and confidant of Trump, he specialized in bankruptcy law and represented Trump in his investments in Atlantic City casinos.

He serves as one of the co-chairmen of the Israel Advisory Committee to Trump, alongside Jason Greenblatt, another Orthodox Jewish lawyer from New York City.

In an op-ed Friday in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, its U.S. editor Chemi Shalev argued that Friedman “makes Netanyahu seem like a left-wing defeatist.” (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had yet to comment on Trump’s pick.)

Netanyahu's main political rival, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, wished Friedman good luck Friday, describing him as "a great friend of Israel."

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely "welcomed" the nomination of Friedman on her Facebook page Friday, describing it as "good news for Israel."

Among those who have also congratulated Friedman is the Zionist Organization of America, whose president, Morton Klein, said Friedman has “the potential to be the greatest U.S. ambassador to Israel ever.”

Matt Brooks, executive director of the lobbying group Republican Jewish Coalition, tweeted “great choice!”

“David is someone who understands the President’s vision and will strengthen the US-Israel relationship,” Brooks wrote.



How a Trump Administration Could Reshape the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict



But not everyone is thrilled with Trump’s choice, which requires Senate confirmation.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal advocacy group J Street, said Friedman was “anathema to values that underlie U.S.-Israel relationship” and promised to fight his confirmation.

Friedman has previously called J Street “far worse than kapos,” referring to Jews who assisted Nazis during the Holocaust.

Joining the chorus of discontent is the lobbying organization National Jewish Democratic Council, which tweeted that there “hasn’t ever been a less experienced pick for US [ambassador] to Israel."

Lara Friedman, the director of policy and government relations for Americans for Peace Now, a nonprofit that seeks a political settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said, “I don’t know about the Palestinians, but I know Jews who truly care about Israel’s security, democracy & place in the world are outraged.”

Responding to the news, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters Friday, "who Donald Trump appoints ... is his business. What is not Trump's business is to determine capitals of other nations."

Erekat added, "I look David Friedman and Trump in the eye and tell them -- if you were to take these steps of moving the embassy and annexing settlements in the West Bank, you are sending this region down the path of something that I call chaos, lawlessness and extremism." These moves, Erekat said, would "destroy" the peace process.





Israeli Settlements

The United Nations considers Israeli settlements illegal under international law. For its part, the Obama administration has routinely "strongly condemned" Israeli plans to build a new Jewish settlement in the West Bank and that such actions undermine the ability to achieve a two-state solution.

Friedman, as the president of the American Friends of Bet El Institutions, associated with the Jewish settlement of Bet El, has consistently and actively supported the construction of new settlements. Friedman, already a frequent visitor, also owns property in Jerusalem.

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