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Amb. Friedman: U.S. Embassy Move to Jerusalem a Signal of Trust and Strength

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - At no point was the U.S. decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem "designed to extract any concessions from Israel," U.S. Ambassador David Friedman told the Jerusalem Post in an interview. "The embassy was moved to Jerusalem because the American people have, through their elected officials for the last 25 years, directed the president to do exactly that....It has sent exactly the right signal to our friends and to our foes: that the United States can be trusted at its word; that the United States does not act out of fear, but out of strength." Friedman said that while there "are a lot of good Palestinian people out there who don't celebrate terrorists, they're being drowned out by those who do." Regarding the U.S. peace blueprint that the Palestinians have rejected, sight unseen, he said: "The idea of rejecting a plan that you haven't seen strikes me as being grossly irresponsible. You want to read it and tell us what you don't like about it, by all means. You want to read it and say, 'It's not acceptable.' Sure, that's your right. But to not know what's in there, and to reject it out of hand?" Friedman dismissed the argument that Prime Minister Netanyahu was getting too close to the U.S. president: "Donald Trump is the president of the United States; the United States is the most important ally of the State of Israel; it's also the richest country in the world, and the most powerful country in the world. There is no Israeli leader...who would not embrace the relationship with Donald Trump. The idea that the prime minister of Israel - whoever he might be - has the luxury not to deal with the American president with respect and loyalty, to me just makes no sense at all."
2018-09-07 00:00:00
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