Rabbi Joseph Berman (anti-racist Jewish American rabbi and a key figure in Jewish Voice for Peace, JVP) (2017): “We need to stop the confirmation of David Friedman as US Ambassador to Israel.
Are you ready to join me? Because JVP specifically, even uniquely, needs to take him on.
David Friedman has zero diplomatic experience - he’s actually Trump’s bankruptcy lawyer. But he shares with Jared Kushner and other members of Trump’s inner circle shockingly extreme views on Israel/Palestine.
Friedman has denied the existence of Palestinian refugees, who are recognized under international law, called liberal Jews “kapos” for taking even measured efforts to change Israeli policies, advocated annexation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and endorsed discriminatory screening of Muslim immigrants to the United States.
And he’s not just a supporter of illegal, Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank - he’s the board chair of American Friends of Beit El, one of the oldest and most violent settlements in the West Bank.
David Friedman is a passionate activist for permanent apartheid and occupation.
And his appointment would bring all of these policy disasters closer:
Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem - in fact, he’s already declared his decision to live in Jerusalem personally.
Annexing Ma’ale Adumim or even all of the West Bank. Yesterday even the NYTimes described Friedman as in “closer political step with Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing rivals.” (yes, it is more than possible to out-flank Netanyahu to his right)
Deepening mutual aid between US and the Israeli governments on surveillance projects (think registries) and border militarization (think walls).
There isn’t a single statement of his that we’ve been able to find that shows even a modicum of respect for Palestinians or Palestinian human rights” (Rabbi Joseph Berman, “We need to stop the confirmation of David Friedman as US Ambassador to Israel”, Jewish Voices for Peace, January 2017).