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US Senate Confirms David Friedman as Ambassador to Israel
CBN News 03-23-2017
The Senate confirmed David Friedman to be the United States' next ambassador to Israel Thursday.
The news was applauded by many conservatives, but highlighted a clear divide in party lines. Only two Democrats, New Jersey Senator Bob Menedez and West Virginia's Joe Manchin, joined a unified Republican party in favor of Friedman's nomination.
Friedman faced fierce oppostion for his critical view of the "two-state solution" and support for Jewish homes in biblical Judea and Samaria.
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"He's a controversial guy because he is right leaning. He's got some pretty tough positions with regard to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," Jonathan Schanzer, of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told CBN News in an interview.
Israel warmly welcomed Friedman in his new role as ambassador.
Bejamin Netanyahu posted on Twitter saying:
"New US ambassador to Israel David Friedman will be warmly welcomed as President Trump's representative and as a close friend of Israel.
Pro-Israel activists also celebrated Friedman's confirmation and even suggested he may be the most pro-Israel ambassador America has seen in a long time.
"This is a great day for America, Israel, the Jewish people, and Amb. David Friedman," said Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America. "He will be the most pro-Israel pro-America Ambassador to Israel in history. He is the first U.S. Ambassador to Israel that has a realistic, rational view of the issues affecting all the parties there."
The Hispanic Israel Leadership Coalition is defending President-elect Donald Trump's selection of David Friedman to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel and is urging all evangelicals to put pressure on the Senate to push for a vote to rescind United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334. (Submitted photo)
Hispanic Evangelicals Express Their Support for David Friedman, Mobilize to Rescind UNSC Resolution 2334
Pastor Mario Bramnick, President of the Hispanic Israel Leadership Coalition, said members of his organization enthusiastically support both President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to Israel and efforts in Congress to force the United Nations to rescind Security Council Resolution 2334.
"In light of the Obama Administration's eight years of anti-Israel policy, [Ambassador-designate David Friedman]'s appointment sends a powerful signal that President Elect Trump will strengthen the bond between America and its greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel," he said Monday. "[The Resolution 2334] vote will strengthen the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel; it will lead to more world court actions based on international law. There is a growing global anti-Semitism, and unfortunately it seems to be led by our [President Barack Obama]."
The Friedman Nomination
Bramnick said the Trump Administration has vowed to work to rescind the United Nation's resolution condemning Israel, to roll back the Iranian deal, to move the U.S. embassy to the eternal undivided capital of Israel, Jerusalem, and to repair relations with our greatest ally in the Middle East, which have eroded through the Obama administration over the last eight years.
His organization worked directly with Friedman on developing the Trump-Pence campaign's pro-Israel policy proposals. Friedman said the Trump administration will support Israel in reaching its own conclusion about how to best achieve peace with its neighbors.
"The critical thing is to recognize that there is not going to be any progress on a Palestinian state until the Palestinians renounce violence and accept Israel as a Jewish state," Friedman said before the election. "Until that happens, there is really nothing to talk about in terms of a political process."
"We trust Israel. We think it is doing an excellent job of balancing its respect for human rights and its security needs in a very difficult neighborhood. Israel is a partner with the U.S. in the global war against terrorism—the overall premise of the policy is to respect Israel as a partner and not to unduly influence its decisions."
Although Friedman isn't a "trained diplomat," he is among the world's greatest advocates for the "indivisible Jerusalem" policy, and as ambassador to Israel, he intends to move the U.S. embassy to Israel's eternal capital. He also said he views pro-Israel Christians as full stakeholders in Israel's well-being, not just mere supporters.
"As evangelicals, we believe that the land of Israel, with Jerusalem as the undivided and eternal capital, was given by God to the Jewish people," Bramnick said. "A 2013 Pew Research poll showed 82 percent of evangelicals support Israel based on their faith and biblical understanding that God gave the land of Israel to his chosen people, the Jews."
UNSC Resolution 2334
Friedman also understands free exercise and access to Christian holy sites is in danger and can only be guaranteed by Israel. Nearly every site of religious importance to Christians lies on the wrong side of the so-called "Green Line" and is inside a would-be Arab-Islamic country, according to Obama and UNSC Resolution 2334.
Resolution 2334 explicitly declares East Jerusalem as a settlement. The U.S. has essentially declared that, as a matter of international law, the Jewish state has no claim on the Western Wall, the Temple Mount and indeed the entire Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem.
According to the U.N.—and, by its acquiescence, the U.S.—they all belong to Palestine.
"The Temple Mount is the most sacred site in all of Judaism," the NILC declared in a statement about Resolution 2334. "That it should be declared foreign to the Jewish people is as if the Security Council declared Mecca and Medina to be territory to which Islam has no claim.
"This resolution is denying the Jewish people rights to their own homeland as well as threatening the very survival of Christians to our holy sites in the biblical heartland. Regardless of the 4,000 years of documented history of the Jewish people, Obama and the United Nations have denied the Jewish people's right to live and build freely in their ancient homeland, including east Jerusalem, which would include the Wailing Wall in the Jewish quarter."
Bramnick said HILC intends to work with its friends in the Trump administration and in Congress to defund the "morally bankrupt" U.N. while calling upon evangelicals and elected officials across the nation to support the president-elect's efforts to rectify the "reckless actions" of President Obama.
HILC will be bringing its top leadership to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 11 to join Christians United for Israel and 175 other church leaders to show their objection over Resolution 2334, and to encourage their senators to pass a resolution that both condemns 2334 and urges the Obama not to return to the Security Council for another resolution. The U.S. and other nations will be gathering in Paris on Jan. 15 for what is widely expected to be another round of international condemnation for Israel.
"President-elect Donald Trump rejects the false notion that Israel is an occupier, and [he] wholeheartedly helped lead the policy made by the Republican Party platform on Israel," Bramnick said.
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Trump's Ambassador to Israel Is "To The Right of Netanyahu"
Dec. 15, 2016 ONLY SIMCHAS NEWS
President-elect Donald Trump is nominating his top Jewish surrogate, David Friedman to be U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Friedman, a real estate & bankruptcy lawyer, is an Orthodox Jew who is a member of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst and lives in Woodmere, NY. Friedman has been married for 35 years to Tammy Sand of Miami Beach, Florida. They also own a home in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Talbiyeh, where they spend the Jewish holidays along with their children and grandchildren twice a year. Friedman is also a commentator on Arutz Sheva and serves as the President of American Friends of Bet El Institutions.
David and Tammy Friedman at a playground which they dedicated in Bet El, with Former MK and Bet El Founder Yaakov “Ketzaleh” Katz. (on the left.)
A faculty house dedicated by Friedman in Bet El’s Ra’aya Girls High School. Baruch Gordon
Chief Advisor on Israel During Campaign
The involvement of David Friedman in the Trump campaign was first revealed shortly before Passover, in a meeting with Orthodox Jewish reporters, when Trump named the two men he said would be his chief advisers on Israel. Jason Greenblatt and Trump’s “good friend and trusted adviser”David M. Friedman.
During the meeting Trump told the reporters, “The Orthodox community is amazing. I grew up in Brooklyn, as you know. Ocean Parkway. And I’ve had many, many friends over the years Orthodox, in fact people that work for me,” Trump said.
“In fact, maybe I can get Jason Greenblatt down here. Jason is a person that has been so good, he’s a lawyer, he’s so incredible and he’s Orthodox.
Jason Greenblatt, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at The Trump Organization
Trump also talked about his Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who helped write the pro-Israel speech Trump delivered last month to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, D.C., Copies of the speech were handed out to all the participants before the meeting.
“You probably know, many of you, Jared Kushner, who’s my son-in-law, and he’s happily married to my daughter Ivanka,” Trump said. “So he sends his warmest regards, and she does.”
At the same meeting, Trump talked briefly about his Jewish philanthropy, mentioning that his father used to buy Israel bonds, and wrapped up the meeting reiterating his befuddlement about why Jews are so supportive of Barack Obama.
“In my opinion, Barack Obama has been tremendously disloyal to Israel, and yet my Jewish friends go out and have fundraisers for him all the time,” Trump said. “Someday you people will explain to me what you’re doing.”
Video:
Tapping Friedman as U.S Ambassador to Israel
Today, Trump released a statement about his tapping Friedman for ambassador to Israel:
“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 in a statement. “As the United States’ ambassador to Israel, David Friedman will maintain the special relationship between our two countries.” … (Friedman) has been a long-time friend and trusted adviser to me.
“His strong relationships in Israel will form the foundation of his diplomatic mission and be a tremendous asset to our country as we strengthen the ties to our allies and strive for peace in the Middle East,” Trump continued.
The statement also quoted Friedman predicting he would work from “Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”
Friedman added that he was “deeply honored and humbled” that Trump selected him to represent the US in Israel, and that he aimed to “strengthen the bond between our two countries and advance the cause of peace within the region”
Friedman speaking at a Trump rally in Israel
He also indicated that Trump would make good on his pledge to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “I look forward to doing this from the US embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”.
Trump made clear during his campaign that he would support Israel in a number of critical areas, including moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, all but enshrining the city as Israel’s capital over international objections. He also pledged to not put pressure on Israel to engage in talks with the Palestinians.
Until now, the United States and other powers do not regard Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – in addition to the U.S. embassy, other nations’ embassies are in Tel Aviv – and do not recognize Israel’s annexation of Arab East Jerusalem following its capture in the 1967 Middle East war.
One of the thorniest issues is resolving the rival Israeli and Palestinian demands for Jerusalem’s future. Palestinians regard the ancient city – which contains sites sacred to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths – as the future capital of a separate state.
Advocate of Building Settlements
Friedman is considered far-right on issues, including settlement building and has advocated for the annexation of the Judea & Samaria, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war.
The Obama administration has been highly critical of Israeli settlement construction in the occupied Judea & Samaria and East Jerusalem. Most countries view all Israeli settlements on occupied land that the Palestinians seek for their own state as illegal.
Liberal Organizations Response to Appointment
J Street, the liberal pro-Israel group based in Washington, said it was “vehemently opposed” to Friedman’s nomination.
“As someone who has been a leading American friend of the settlement movement, who lacks any diplomatic or policy credentials … Friedman should be beyond the pale for Senators considering who should represent the United States in Israel,” it said in a statement.
“This nomination is reckless, putting America’s reputation in the region and credibility around the world at risk,” the statement said.
For his part, Saban, spoke at the Saban Forum in December and stunned liberal American Jews by saying the Trump administration would freeze out J Street, the left-leaning, pro-Israel lobby group based in Washington, D.C., which has been influential in recent years. In previous interviews, Friedman called the organization “far worse than kapos,” a highly insulting Yiddish word for Jews who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.
Israel’s left wing newspaper Ha’aretz describes David Friedman as “to the right of Netanyahu”
Friedman Interviewed by Israeli Media
Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser to Republican and Democratic administrations, said Friedman’s nomination “was designed to send a signal that there will be significant break in tone, style and perhaps substance from the Obama administration” in its handling of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
“The peace process is just dead right now,” Miller said, alluding to the Obama administration’s failed efforts. But he said it was too early to see Friedman’s nomination as Trump’s disavowal of a two-state solution.
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The European Union's relentless pressure on Israel to comply with conditions it believes would bring peace amounts to a "non-violent" campaign against the Jewish state. If in the end Israel capitulates to the EU's terms, the peace enforced upon her would be of the kind Field Marshal Archibald Wavell predicted for post-WWI Europe. Forcing Germany to sign the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, Wavell famously stated, would be a "peace to end peace."
The latest attempt to corral Israel was the EU's statement from January 18 reiterating that it will maintain a "full and effective implementation of existing EU legislation and bilateral arrangements applicable to settlements products. The EU expresses its commitment to ensure that … all agreements between the State of Israel and the EU must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967."
The statement then goes on to insist that the above "does not constitute a boycott of Israel, which the EU strongly opposes."
In other words, though it strongly opposes efforts to boycott Israel, the EU nevertheless continues its policy of boycotting Israeli goods coming from places like the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo and Barkan Industrial Park east of Petah Tikvah. This statement follows the November 2015 EU decision to brand Israeli products made in East Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights, which was brushed aside as "technical" by EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen.
Equally alarming is the American change in policy toward Israel that appears to be a closing of ranks with the EU. It was no accident that US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro delivered what one described as an "egregiously anti-Israel speech" on the very same day the EU issued its statement.
In words that could have been said by the Swedish Foreign Minister, Shapiro launched his version of this same kind of vitriolic rhetoric. "Too many attacks on Palestinians lack a vigorous investigation or response by Israeli authorities, too much vigilantism goes unchecked," he said, even as Palestinian kids are killing and wounding Israelis on a daily basis.
Shapiro appears to be joining the ever-growing crowd that blames Israel for Palestinian terror. If Israel would withdraw to its 1967 borders, these people believe, peace and tranquility would descend upon this troubled region.
Yet, if Israel's withdrawal to its 1967 Gaza borders is to teach us anything, it would tell us quite clearly that these borders have no magic in them, that there is no magic wand that can be waved to erase the Palestinians' stated purpose of conquering Israel.
Under present conditions, pressuring Israel to accept a two-state solution is a recipe for peace that will end all peace, one that a responsible Israeli government must reject.
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