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US envoy: Our relations with Israel ‘deep and complex’

September 19, 2017 at 11:48 am

US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman [newcrescent47/Twitter]

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman described Washington’s relationship with Tel Aviv as “deep, complex and similar to two members of the same family,” Quds Press reported yesterday.

Speaking to Israel Hayoum newspaper, Friedman said: “The deepest relations between Washington and Tel Aviv in the security side.”

“During the administration of the previous [US] President [Barack] Obama, there had been a unilateral view about the conflict. There had been a link between terror and settlement. Let me say that settlements are an important issue that deserves to be discussed, but terror is killing.”

The ambassador added: “The real face of Obama became clear during his final December – at the end of this term – when he became a lame duck without political responsibilities. One of his last measures, he did not veto at the UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which condemned settlement.”

Read: Settlements are Israel’s ‘defensive wall’ says Lieberman

In August, Friedman’s daughter migrated to Israel and enrolled in military service.

The Guardian describes him as a pro-settler lawyer who has described some US Jews as worse than concentration camp prisoner-guards.

It also added: “He has set out a number of hardline positions on Israeli-Palestinian relations, including fervent opposition to the two-state solution and strong support for an undivided Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

Read: Trump expresses doubts that Israel-Palestinian peace deal possible