As Gideon Levy, writing in "The U.S. Is Finally Out of the Closet" in Haaretz, rightly points out, with Trump having appointed a far-right Jewish fellow as the next ambassador to Israel, the US Congress and Senate - and the American people - will, likely, not understand that with the position to be taken by the US vis-a-vis Israel, any pretence of the USA being an honest broker in seeking a resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict will immediately disappear.
"President-elect Donald Trump has decided to appoint an anti-Israeli and racist lawyer as ambassador to Israel. That is, of course, his prerogative. With David Friedman’s appointment last Thursday, the United States has finally come out of the closet. From now on, it officially supports the establishment of an Israeli apartheid state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
Friedman is not the first Jewish ambassador to Israel – a matter that has always sparked questions of dual loyalty – but he is the first declared friend of the settlements in this position. His predecessor, Dan Shapiro, was also a friend of the settlements, like all the ambassadors before him – representatives of governments that could have stopped the settlement project but did not raise a finger to do so, and even financed it.
But now we have an ambassador who has also contributed to the dispossession from his own pocket.
This innovation means an end to ridiculous statements of denunciation by the U.S. Department of State, at which Israel thumbed its nose. No more black diplomatic cars following the construction of every new balcony in the occupied territories. From now on, we have an ambassador who will feel the pain of the Amona outpost’s evacuation and take part in cornerstone-laying ceremonies in every new settlement.
Sign up below and receive every new Gideon Levy column directly in your inbox
This means the United States will no longer be able to claim that it is an honest broker. It never was one, but now the mask is off. In those terms, Friedman’s appointment is right and good. The Palestinians, Europeans and the rest of the world should know: America is for the occupation. No more pretense.
Friedman is anti-Israeli, like anyone else who urges Israel to deepen the occupation. Friedman is a racist, like anyone else who pushes for an apartheid state. He is also antidemocratic and McCarthyist (saying supporters of J Street are “far worse than kapos”) – and we have enough of those of our own. Friedman will spur them on, and in that, too, he is patently anti-Israeli."
"President-elect Donald Trump has decided to appoint an anti-Israeli and racist lawyer as ambassador to Israel. That is, of course, his prerogative. With David Friedman’s appointment last Thursday, the United States has finally come out of the closet. From now on, it officially supports the establishment of an Israeli apartheid state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
Friedman is not the first Jewish ambassador to Israel – a matter that has always sparked questions of dual loyalty – but he is the first declared friend of the settlements in this position. His predecessor, Dan Shapiro, was also a friend of the settlements, like all the ambassadors before him – representatives of governments that could have stopped the settlement project but did not raise a finger to do so, and even financed it.
But now we have an ambassador who has also contributed to the dispossession from his own pocket.
This innovation means an end to ridiculous statements of denunciation by the U.S. Department of State, at which Israel thumbed its nose. No more black diplomatic cars following the construction of every new balcony in the occupied territories. From now on, we have an ambassador who will feel the pain of the Amona outpost’s evacuation and take part in cornerstone-laying ceremonies in every new settlement.
Sign up below and receive every new Gideon Levy column directly in your inbox
This means the United States will no longer be able to claim that it is an honest broker. It never was one, but now the mask is off. In those terms, Friedman’s appointment is right and good. The Palestinians, Europeans and the rest of the world should know: America is for the occupation. No more pretense.
Friedman is anti-Israeli, like anyone else who urges Israel to deepen the occupation. Friedman is a racist, like anyone else who pushes for an apartheid state. He is also antidemocratic and McCarthyist (saying supporters of J Street are “far worse than kapos”) – and we have enough of those of our own. Friedman will spur them on, and in that, too, he is patently anti-Israeli."
Comments