JINO's protest David Friedman's nomination to be US Ambaassador to Israel

Several 'as a Jews' protested David Friedman's nomination as US Ambassador to Israel in a Senate hearing on Thursday.

Let's go to the videotape.



One of the things that upsets the JINO's is David's connection to the yeshiva in Beit El (a connection that is likely the result of one of his children studying there - that's usually how these connections are formed).

As the Senate holds a confirmation hearing Thursday on the nomination of David Friedman, he could face grilling about his ties to Beit El, a community north of Jerusalem located in the heart of the occupied territory Palestinians demand for an independent state.

A bankruptcy attorney from the Five Towns area of Long Island, Friedman is a major donor to Beit El and serves as the president of the American Friends of Beit El Yeshiva, the U.S. fundraising arm of the settlement’s Jewish seminary and affiliated institutions, including high schools, an Israeli military prep academy, a newspaper for the religious Jewish settler community and the right-wing news site Arutz Sheva.

They make the entire town sound like shnorrers (beggars). In fact, the 'American Friends' setup is entirely legal - nearly every school in Israel that raises money in the US has one in order for donors to qualify for 501(c)(3) deductions. Each of the other institutions likely has its own 'American Friends' with the likely exception of Arutz Sheva, which the last time I checked was a commercial venture.

But even by Trump’s new standards, Friedman appears to be extreme. Friedman is a fervent supporter of the settlements and an outspoken opponent of Palestinian statehood.

“I have expressed my skepticism about two-state state solutions because of what I perceive as the Palestinians inability to denounce terrorism and recognize Israel as a legitimate state,” Friedman said.

If that's 'extreme,' I don't many Orthodox Jews in the United States or Israel who aren't extremists.

In Beit El, the Friedman Faculty House, which bears his and his wife’s names on the facade, is built on private Palestinian land without permission from its Palestinian landowners, according to the anti-settlement watchdog Kerem Navot.

And now CBS is accepting claims by Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily as 'facts.' Prove it.

PS Almost forgot to mention that David prayed at the Lubavitcher Rebbe's grave on Sunday. David is not a Lubavitcher chassid.

Here's David's full opening statement. Let's go to the videotape.