Trump nominee for Israel ambassador heckled, questioned at Senate
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A protester holds a Palestinian flag during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on David Friedman's nomination.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"My grandfather was exiled," the man said before being escorted out of the room. "Palestinians will always be in Palestine!"
Democratic senators pressed Friedman on incendiary comments he made including calling Obama an anti-Semite and Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, an appeaser. "Frankly, the language you have regularly used against those who disagree with your views has me concerned about your preparedness to enter the world of diplomacy," Ben Cardin, the senior Democrat on the committee, told the nominee.
Friedman acknowledged using overheated rhetoric as part of his passionate support for the Jewish state, which has included financial support of Jewish settlements built on land claimed by Palestinians. He promised to avoid inflammatory comments as a US diplomat.
He told Cardin, "There is no excuse. If you want me to rationalise it or justify it, I cannot. These were hurtful words and I deeply regret them."
Cardin, citing Friedman's criticism of Schumer as having done the "worst appeasement of terrorists since Munich," retorted that those words were "beyond hurtful."
"We need a steady hand in the Middle East, not a bomb thrower," admonished Tom Udall, another Democrat.
'RECANT EVERY SINGLE STRONGLY HELD BELIEF'
Under questioning, Friedman tried to soften his positions on a number of hot-button regional issues.
While expressing scepticism of a two-state solution calling for the creation of Palestinian state next to Israel, he acknowledged it was the best option for peace. He said he did not personally support Israeli annexation of the West Bank and agreed with Trump's view that settlement activity "may not be helpful" to achieving peace.
"You're here today having to recant every single strongly held belief that you've expressed, almost," the committee's Republican chairman, Bob Corker, noted.
Friedman is likely to be confirmed by the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham acknowledged that Friedman has said things he did not agree with but backed the nominee as qualified, experienced and passionate. "I believe he is the right guy at the right time. He'll be Trump's voice. Trump won the election," Graham said.
Five former US ambassadors to Israel from both Republican and Democratic administrations urged the Senate in a letter to reject Friedman, saying that he holds "extreme, radical positions" on issues such as Jewish settlements and the two-state solution.
"We believe him to be unqualified for the position," wrote the former ambassadors including Thomas Pickering, Edward Walker, Daniel Kurtzer, James Cunningham and William Harrop.
While campaigning for the presidency, Trump pledged to switch the US Embassy from Tel Aviv, where it has been located for 68 years, to Jerusalem, all but enshrining the city as Israel's capital regardless of international objections.
