US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman met Monday morning with representatives of a left-wing NGO he once claimed are “worse than kapos”, Haaretz has reported
The left-wing J Street organization, which promotes the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, the labelling of Jewish goods from the region and opposes Jewish rights in those areas, lobbied strenuously against Friedman’s appointment by President Trump, urging the Senate to reject him as ambassador.
Despite their efforts to derail his nomination, and Friedman’s criticism of the group, a J Street delegation led by founder Jeremy Ben-Ami met with the ambassador in Tel Aviv, along with seven Democratic lawmakers who have expressed support for J Street.
According to the Haaretz report, an anonymous source claimed that the meeting was held at the behest of J Street.
“Ambassador Friedman committed to meeting with all the Jewish organizations in the US, and he is standing by his word,” the source told Haaretz.
A J Street spokesperson responded to the report, expressing ‘appreciation’ for the ambassador’s participation and saying that it was “essential” to maintain the line of communication, despite their political differences with the ambassador.
“We appreciate Ambassador Friedman’s willingness to meet with members of congress under the aegis of the pro-Israel lobby J Street. We believe that it is essential to maintain an open line of communication between American Jewish and Israeli leaders from different political backgrounds.”
J Street declined to discuss the content of the meeting with the ambassador, saying only that it was part of a “broad dialog within the pro-Israel community”.
“While we cannot quote or relate to the content of the meeting, it was important in that it symbolizes the need and the desire for broad dialog within the pro-Israel community, even with those we disagree with.”