Trump’s Israel envoy would cause war in Middle East: Experts
US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel has caused concern among experts as they say the nominee is likely to provoke more conflicts in the Middle East.
Trump has picked David Friedman, one of his main advisers on Israel during the presidential campaign, to head the US Embassy in the occupied territories and said he would help “strive for peace in the Middle East.”
However, The New York Times has published several excerpts of Friedman’s writings which show his sharp opposition to the so-called two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
Friedman, a New York-based bankruptcy attorney with no diplomatic experience, is president of an organization that supports a far-right Israeli news site and illegal Israeli settlement on Palestinian territory, according to the report.
Friedman backs Trump's promise to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds, a step that would enrage Palestinians and create an international furor.
One senior Palestinian cleric has said the move is similar to “declaring a new war on the Palestinians and all Muslim Arabs.”
Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to Israel, said Friedman would “appeal to a small minority of Israeli — and American — extremists, ignoring the majority of Israelis...”
Also, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D) a Jewish New Yorker, issued a statement Friday, calling Friedman a threat to both Middle Eastern security and "the US-Israel relationship going forward."
"Mr. Friedman’s radical hardline positions place him far outside the mainstream of both American and Israeli policy and of American Jewry," Nadler said.
"His [Trump] appointment is not only offensive to both American and Israeli Jews, it again signals the intent of Donald Trump and the Republicans who support him to align with extreme right-wing positions."
Additionally, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has warned that picking Friedman poses "an affront to US policies on settlements and a two-state solution."
The Obama administration has been engaged in efforts for the initiative during his tenure but to no avail as the Israeli regime has remained intransigent in its expansive policies as well as the harsh crackdown on the Palestinian population.
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