Without a doubt, one of the foremost highlights of my time here in Europe has been the work I have been privileged to do in Israel. To be able to have been there for protracted periods, learn the language and see the society has been a fond memory for me and I will treasure my experiences in Israel for the rest of my life.
That is why I could not help but be angry when I read this headline in Haaretz, one of the Israeli newspapers I subscribe to in order to maintain awareness of the Israeli “back story” as it were.
Israel ‘Has the Right’ to Annex Parts of the West Bank, U.S. Ambassador Says.
Israel has the right to annex parts of the West Bank, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told the New York Times in an interview published Saturday, drawing harsh criticism from Palestinian leaders ahead of the publication of a part of the administration’s contested Middle East peace proposal.
“Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank,” he said. The comment follows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s April election promise to annex the territory, which Israel has maintained control over since it was conquered from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War.
Here is a news flash. It is not the job of the US Ambassador to Israel to be a cheerleader for Likud, despite what a lot of Americans may say. He should be recalled immediately. His statements are just another in a long line of examples of why he never should have been appointed as Ambassador in the first place. They destroy Friedman’s legitimacy as an honest broker and they also send a signal to the Likudniks that the government can get a free pass do something really destructive, like annex the West Bank.
And of course, there is this little gem from Friedman’s mouth:
According to Friedman, Israel would also need to keep boots on the ground in the West Bank even after peace is achieved, comparing a future Israel Defense Forces presence in Palestinian territories to American bases in Japan, Korea, and Germany.
If I have to explain why this is not true – well then , forgive me, I first have to call you an idiot. There is no way it compares to the presence of US forces in Japan, Korea and Germany. To start with, US forces do not do any domestic enforcement in any of those countries and they certainly are not called upon to do crowd control of German, Japanese or Korean citizens. The IDF, on the other hand does that every day.
Several years ago I did a post on Peter Beinart’s book, The Crisis of Zionism, noting that he quite correctly pointed out that annexing the West Bank would put Israel in a morally untenable position – as well as destroying the nation’s Jewish character.
Most experts believe that if Israel does not disengage from the Palestinian territories, the number of Arabs living under Israeli control will soon outnumber the number of Jews, forcing Israel to make a difficult choice: Either maintain the status quo, in which Palestinians can’t vote, and stop being a democracy, or grant Palestinians the right to vote and end the country’s status as a democracy with a Jewish majority.
“The big question for me is can Israel survive as a democracy and a Jewish state?” he said.
“We are moving toward the day in which Israel’s occupation will be permanent, when it will be impossible to create a viable Palestinian state,” he added. “When we wake up to the reality that that’s happened, it will force my children to make the choice that I don’t ever want them to have to make: between being a Zionist and being a believer in democracy.”
Even if you do not support Beinart’s thesis ( and may God have mercy on you if you do), I have to reiterate it is not the job of the US Ambassador to be saying these things.
When Friedman was nominated, he prompted strong opposition, primarily due to his blatant sympathies for the Israeli settlers in the West Bank. He has viciously attacked individuals who do not agree with his positions on Israel, often resorting to claiming that they are anti-Semitic. In the summer of last year, he made a lot of Israelis mad when he told journalists who criticized Israeli army snipers for firing on Palestinian demonstrators at the Gazan border to ‘keep your mouths shut’. More than six major newspapers in the US had recommended that he not be confirmed by the Senate back in 2017, because of viewpoints like that.
This is not the role of the US Ambassador to Israel. It just is not. However, like most things Trump does, there is little thought or study put into the decisions he makes about personnel filling important positions. The Trump Cabinet is a graphic example of this with a large number of corrupt and unfit individuals like Elaine Chao, Betsy De Vos, Ben Carson, and Mike Pompeo – just to name a few.
I’ve written before and I will write it again, the interests of Israel and the United States are not always in alignment. That does not mean that we do not support Israel when we criticize actions that are short-sighted and damaging to security in the Middle East. Too many Americans do not understand Israel as it really is and so they support policies that are really not in Israel’s interest or the interest of the United States. The Ambassador to Israel has a responsibility to behave more responsibly than Friedman has.
That is why Friedman should be recalled from his post, immediately. As Israeli writer, Rogel Alpher, wrote last summer, ” As a result of his behavior and his remarks, Friedman lost his legitimacy. If anyone should shut his mouth, he should. “
I concur with that assessment.