“Mr. Friedman is completely unfit for…any diplomatic office”

friedman1portfolio

Did you watch the confirmation hearing two weeks ago for David Friedman, Donald Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel? If not, check out our three-minute highlight video of the protests, and Senators grilling Friedman over his anti-Palestinian views here! For those who don’t know, David Friedman is actively involved in funding illegal Israeli settlements, opposes Palestinian rights, and peddles Islamophobic conspiracy theories.

The campaign we and others have mounted against Friedman has grown tremendously over the past few weeks. Because of the great work from supporters like you, the Senators at the hearing felt emboldened to put pressure on Friedman. There were so many great things said at the hearing– here are just a few snippets:

“We aren’t going away, Mr. Friedman. We were there, we are there now, and we will always be there. Palestinians will always be in Palestine!”–Taher Herzallah, American Muslims for Palestine

You have no problem calling my actions anti-Semitic even if you believe that in my heart, I have no desire to discriminate against Jews?”–Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)

Do you believe that the life of a Palestinian child is of the same value as the life of a Jewish child?”–Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)

“I’ve heard troubling stories from Arab Americans who say they have experienced discrimination by Israeli authorities at the Israeli border, for no other reason than they have Arab last names…How would you as ambassador address that concern?”–Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)

“Having a military presence in the West Bank ad infinitum–forever–by Israel is really something different than a two state solution.”–Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)

And the U.S. could never support a solution where Palestinians are deprived of equal rights…correct?”–Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)

“I am strongly opposed to this nominee…Mr. Friedman is completely unfit for this, or any other, diplomatic office…”–Senator Tom Udall (D-NM)

The fight is not over yet. We have started an online petition targeted towards the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as we expect it to vote on Friedman’s nomination as early as tomorrow. Our goal is to get 10,000 signatures. We, along with our member groups Jewish Voice for Peace and Codepink, will deliver the petitions to Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), the Chair and Ranking Member of the committee, before the vote. Between JVP and Codepink, there are over 30,000 signatures. Now let’s make it 40,000!   Sign this petition now to Senators Corker and Cardin encouraging them, and the rest of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to vote no on David Friedman.

You can read more about why we oppose Friedman in our policy memo here. Thank you for taking action!

 

P.S.–Help us continue to put pressure on these Senators and donate now!