You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Trump Taps His Far-Right-Wing Bankruptcy Lawyer to Be U.S. Ambassador to Israel

HeadlineDec 16, 2016

Donald Trump has tapped the far-right-wing bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Many are calling Friedman an unprecedented pick for the position, given his hostility toward peace between Israelis and Palestinians and his disregard for international law. Friedman has no diplomatic experience. He supports Israel’s Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank and says he doesn’t think it would be illegal for Israel to annex the entire Palestinian territory, despite the fact that it would be blatantly illegal under international law. On Thursday, Friedman also said he opposes a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

David Friedman: “A Trump administration will never pressure Israel into a two-state solution or any other solution that is against the wishes of the Israeli people.”

In response to the announcement, Jewish Voice for Peace said, “Friedman’s appointment is a distressing signal that the new administration will give the Israeli government a free hand to deepen its fundamentally undemocratic and abusive control over Palestinian land, resources and rights.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top