The Palestinian Authority is threatening to sue outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman in international courts for recognizing the City of David as a testament to America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and founding principles, Palestinian affairs expert Khaled Abu Toameh tweeted on Tuesday.
The announcement by the P.A. came on the heels of a special ceremony held on Monday by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem to commend the archaeological site for the “seminal role it plays in connecting its visitors to the origins of the values that helped shape America.”
During the ceremony, in which Friedman dedicated a plaque in the City of David’s honor, the ambassador said, “In modern America, we are inspired by many monuments that remind us of the history of our republic. I’ve often wondered what monuments inspired our Founding Fathers. When the drafters of the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that our Creator had endowed each and every American with certain unalienable rights, what monuments inspired them? I suggest that those monuments are located right here, in the ancient city of Jerusalem.”
Friedman also said that he hoped that the plaque would prompt all those who read it to think of the Judeo-Christian values upon which America was founded and “how those values were inspired by ancient Jerusalem and its inhabitants.”
This is not the first time that the P.A. has threatened to file a complaint against Friedman in international courts. In June 2019, Al Jazeera reported that the ambassador angered the P.A. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in comments he made to The New York Times about the U.S. peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians.
In his interview with The Times, Friedman said, “Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank.”
