Five former US ambassadors to Israel on Wednesday evening declared their total rejection of US President Donald Trump’s pick for Israel envoy David Friedman calling him “unqualified” and “extreme” in his positions.
Israeli media sources revealed that the five ambassadors sent a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urging the Senators to examine whether Friedman “has the balance and the temperament required to represent the United States as ambassador to Israel.”
Haaretz obtained a copy of the letter citing former ambassadors Thomas Pickering Dan Kurtzer Edward Walker James Cunningham and William Harrop as signatories.
In the letter the diplomats who have served under both Republican and Democratic administrations and have worked with Israeli leaders of “different political stripes” outline concerns for some of Friedman’s views regarding the state of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict believing that the US ambassador to Israel must be dedicated to advancing “longstanding bipartisan goals” of security and peace among Israel’s neighbors specifically the Palestinians and claim that the only current solution is the creation of two separate states.
“If Israel is to carry on as a democratic Jewish nation respected internationally we see no alternative to a two-state solution” the letter stated.
Friedman meanwhile is noted to be adamantly opposed to a two-state solution arguing that it is an “illusory solution in search of a non-existent problem” as he was quoted in the letter.
The letter also said Friedman is a supporter and financier of settlement construction in the West Bank an issue that has raised great concern among the international community and was condemned in a United Nations Security Council resolution in December.
