Settlements are NOT illegal. The occupation DOESN'T exist. Jerusalem is the eternal, undivided capital of Israel. The limited rights of Palestinian citizens in Israel should be limited even further. Jews who support ending the occupation are not Jews and are worse than Kapos (Jewish prisoners who cooperated with the Nazis to police concentration camps).
Wait, what?The views above are, to say the least, pretty extreme. For those of us who follow Palestine/Israel however, we have heard them all too often, usually from the most right-wing, racist voices in Israeli society and that is where we’d expect them to stay.
Where you may not expect to hear such views, however, is from a US diplomat.
But these are the very views of David Friedman, the man whom President-elect Donald Trump has named as his choice for US Ambassador to Israel.Friedman, who has known Trump for years, writes for a far-right Israeli news website whose editorial line supports the Jewish Home party of Naftali Bennett.
That's a party that openly advocates for annexing the West Bank and denying equal rights to Palestinians forever. He also heads a charity that has funneled millions of dollars into an illegal Israeli settlement deep in the occupied West Bank. How on earth could this person possibly relay the message that settlements are an obstacle to peace, a long standing US position?
Surely, some will say that an Ambassador's personal views and the foreign policy of a President are not necessarily the same and that much is true. However, it is hard to see how someone with the views of Friedman would accept the post, or how the President-elect could nominate him, if their views radically differed.
Friedman, in the statement issued by the Office of the President-Elect, stated he looked forward to taking on the position and working “from the U.S. embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.” Moving the embassy would constitute a reversal of longstanding US policy not to officially recognize Jerusalem as sovereign to any country until an Israeli-Palestinian agreement is reached.
Francisco, there are still several weeks left before a new administration assumes the White House but we would be remiss to ignore the warning signs.
Everything we have seen so far suggests that near future holds an unprecedented assault on Palestinian rights.Our work has never been more needed than it is today and your support has never been more critical to our success.
Can you help us mount a defense for Palestinian rights in 2017 by making a contribution before the end of the year? We are counting on you and you can be sure Palestinians will be counting on us all here in the United States to raise our voices to oppose the attacks against them.
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