Trump taps adviser David Friedman for ambassador to Israel
Source: The Hill
BY MARK HENSCH - 12/15/16 06:49 PM EST
President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday announced his pick of adviser David Friedman to be U.S. ambassador to Israel.
"The bond between Israel and the United States runs deep, and I will ensure there is no daylight between us when Im president, Trump said in a statement, saying Friedman would "maintain the special relationship between our two countries.
He has been a long-time friend and trusted adviser to me, Trump added of Friedman, an attorney who is also a co-chair on Trumps Israel advisory committee.
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."Nothing is more critical than protecting the security of our citizens at home and abroad.
-snip-
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/310673-trump-taps-us-ambassador-to-israel
LisaM
(27,759 posts)RussBLib
(8,984 posts)another belligerent America-hater.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(56,890 posts)Sorry. My mistake. He died a long time ago. One of the others, then?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bormann
pangaia
(24,324 posts)JudyM
(29,122 posts)Mosby
(16,162 posts)If they follow through with that the Muslim world is going to collectively lose their shit.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)Probably made to offset the worries about tillerson's (I think I have that name right-appointee for SOS) very close ties to oil producing Arab countries.
Behind the Aegis
(53,831 posts)It only further demonstrates the president-elect as a know-nothing shithead who is not the least bit interested in this country, much less another one (except maybe Russia), who is sending our country on a very dangerous path.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)but there is no "maybe" when it comes to his kowtowing to putin. Every single pick has confirmed it and I suspect he owes hundreds of millions to russian banks or vlad has something on video and has degenerate donnie by the short hairs.
TubbersUK
(1,439 posts)Friedman represented Trump after Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc, the umbrella company for his three Atlantic City casinos, when into bankruptcy in 2009.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/15/trump-israel-ambassador-david-friedman
muriel_volestrangler
(101,150 posts)I have seen David Friedman, Donald Trump's nominee to be the next US Ambassador to Israel, described in the mainstream press as a supporter of settlement expansion. The analogies that readily spring to mind are too coarse for me to repeat. Let's say this is a wild understatement. Friedman represents the extremes of the most vicious and destructive elements of rightist Zionism and the indeed the most radical elements of American Jewry.
Chemi Shalev captures the essence here.
By Israeli standards, Donald Trumps designated Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, is an extreme right-winger. He might find a place in the settler movement or with Naftali Bennetts Habayit Hayehudi Party, but only on its right-wing fringes. He makes Benjamin Netanyahu seem like a left-wing defeatist. From where Friedman stands, most Israelis, never mind most American Jews, are more or less traitors.
Friedman has repeatedly attacked J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-Peace group, and its members as worse than the Jewish collaborators who served the Nazis during the Holocaust.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-worst-of-the-worst
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)In the past he's cited US pressure in order to deny permits etc. Without that excuse he'll have no choice but to give in to Bennett et al and greenlight every WB construction permit.
Bright side is that maybe people will stop pretending that the two-state solution is still a thing.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)What is it exactly that you would like to see happen?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)No meaningful progress can be made by chasing a ghost.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)I am curious, in all sincerity, to know what your vision would be.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)That land is ruled by fate, not hope.
What I want is our government to act in our best interests, and to behave constructively to ensure that the human beings in the area do as well as possible.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)What constructive steps could the US take to ensure that the human beings in the area do as well as possible?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Stop wasting time and political capital on the two-state solution. Focus instead on democratic values and the best path forward for a binational state that will serve as a homeland to both peoples.
GliderGuider
(21,088 posts)These developments are exactly what I've been expecting for a decade. Don't expect the situation to improve. Increasing confusion and chaos will attend and propel the drain-ward spiral of global civilization from here on. Trump and his autocratic cronies are just symptoms of the process. If they go away, their vacuum will be filled by others.
It's just the eschaton, folks.