In her remarks after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for about 40 minutes on Thursday, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris offered “some platitudes about complexities, nuances, human suffering, peace and security,” as well as a plea for a two-state solution, but no call to eliminate Hamas, former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman stated.
“Madame vice president, there was a Palestinian state in Gaza—not a single Jew or Jewish soldier was there when this war began,” Friedman said. “In 2005, Israel evacuated all its soldiers and citizens from Gaza, handing full control of the territory to the Palestinians in the hope of peace, and the Palestinians in Gaza then elected Hamas.”
“Your push for a Palestinian state at this time is tone-deaf and a betrayal of the Jewish lives lost and still missing from this heinous assault. It also conflicts with the recent vote of the Israeli Knesset which overwhelmingly rejected a Palestinian state,” the former envoy added.
“You are no friend of Israel, and you have exhibited a shocking lack of command of the relevant facts,” he added. “Your insensitivity to Jewish suffering, and failure to attribute good and evil where they belong, means you will never help to bring peace to this troubled region.”
