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Senate confirms Friedman as ambassador to Israel, with little Democratic support

Senate confirms Friedman as ambassador to Israel, with little Democratic support

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Thursday confirmed David Friedman to be the next ambassador to Israel, making him the first of President Donald Trump’s selected foreign emissaries to take his post.

Mr. Friedman earned the support of only two Democrats in the 52-46 vote: Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. No Republicans opposed him.

Republican support for Mr. Friedman was a sure thing despite a rocky confirmation hearing last month, punctuated not only by protesters critical of his statements opposing a Palestinian state and supporting Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but also by Democratic senators concerned about the harsh rhetoric he has used to attack politicians whose Israel policy differs from his.

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Top Foreign Relations Committee Democrat Ben Cardin, D-Md., said earlier this month that Mr. Friedman’s past practice of accusing his political opponents of anti-Semitism and a lack of support for Israel, as well as Mr. Friedman’s stated disdain for the two-state solution-driven Israeli-Palestinian peace process, were why he would vote against Mr. Friedman’s nomination. Other prominent Jewish Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., voted against Mr. Friedman’s confirmation as well.

In this Feb. 16 file photo, David Friedman, then the nominee to serve as ambassador to Israel, testifies before his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.
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“Mr. Friedman takes extreme positions that will move the two parties further from peace,” Ms. Feinstein said in a statement Thursday, adding that Mr. Friedman was “far too divisive to serve in our of our nation’s most sensitive diplomatic positions.”

Most Democrats were not convinced that Mr. Friedman’s concerted efforts during his confirmation hearing to walk back some of his more vitriolic comments were enough to recommend him for the post.

And following the vote, some Senate Democrats also expressed concern that with Mr. Friedman as ambassador, the two-state solution would now be in jeopardy.

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“The current administration has expressed multiple viewpoints on the future, inviting concern that there may be a departure from decades of bipartisan U.S. support for a two-state solution,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a statement following the vote. “The nomination of Mr. Friedman to serve as ambassador to Israel adds to this concern.”

Throughout his campaign and since he took office, Mr. Trump has sent varying signals about his Israel policy. He floated the idea of scaling back aid to Israel before walking that back -- the Trump administration now says that aid to Israel will not be affected by otherwise severe cuts to foreign aid. He has taken a noncommittal role on settlements, declaring they “may not be helpful” -- after blasting the United Nations for voting in December 2016 to condemn Israeli settlement-building activity. And last month, during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the United States, Mr. Trump said that he “can live with either” a two-state or a one-state solution to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Mr. Friedman’s appointment has been highly anticipated by right-wing Israelis, especially those living in Jewish settlements in the West Bank. They are hopeful that Mr. Friedman’s past support for the settlements will translate as U.S. backing for boosting construction in the controversial communities. Most of the world, including the Obama administration, views settlements as illegal and as a major barrier to reigniting the peace process with the Palestinians. Israel disputes this.

In addition, Palestinians, who have been wary until now of perceived pro-Israel stance of the Trump administration, are concerned that Mr. Friedman will attempt to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Palestinians believe that this could have a disastrous impact on the peace process and on the stability and security of the entire, volatile region. Several Democratic members of Congress agree.

A phone call between Mr. Trump and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last week and a subsequent visit by Jason Greenblatt, Mr. Trump’s special representative for international negotiations, has calmed some of their fears.

Still, the divided, sharply partisan vote was a notable departure from past votes to confirm ambassadors to Israel, considered one of the United States’ closest allies. Inside the Israeli government, the straight party-line vote indicated his confirmation was viewed less as a policy statement by lawmakers than as a statement on Mr. Trump’s ability to ram through a controversial appointment.

Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, posted his congratulations on Twitter, saying he was “looking forward to working closely with you to make the U.S.-Israel alliance stronger than ever.”

Mr. Netanyahu tweeted, “New US ambassador to Israel David Friedman will be warmly welcomed as President Trump’s representative and as a close friend of Israel.”

Meanwhile J Street, a liberal Jewish organization that had lobbied against Mr. Friedman - and one whose members Mr. Friedman has likened to “kapos,” or Jewish Holocaust collaborators - noted that “almost half of the Senate voted to oppose this deeply unqualified and inappropriate nominee, whose predecessors had all been confirmed without a single vote against them.”

First Published: March 24, 2017, 4:12 a.m.

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