US envoy meets with J Street after calling its members 'worse than kapos'
US ambassador to Israel David Friedman meets with group he called 'advocates of Israel’s destruction'
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman met with representatives from the pro-Israel leftist group J Street in Tel Aviv on Monday, Haaertz reported.
Friedman has a history of lashing out at liberal Jewish organizations. In an article he published in the right-wing news outlet Israel National News, Friedman attacked J Street saying that its members were “worse than kapos,” referring to Jews who were forced to help Nazis during World War Two, turning victim against victim. Friedman also called the Anti-Defamation League “a bunch of morons.”
The meeting was attended by J-Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami, seven Democratic congressmen and other senior members of the organization.
This meeting was the first official meeting between Friedman and the Pro-Israel lobbyist group though J Street met with the ambassador's predecessor, Dan Shapiro, during the last delegation visit to Israel.
"Ambassador Friedman committed to meeting with all the Jewish organizations in the U.S. and he is standing by his word," one anonymous source told Haaretz.
In a statement released after the meeting, J Street affirmed that it values diverse political opinions and praised the ambassador's readiness to meet.
"We value Ambassador Friedman's willingness to meet with Congressmen as part of the pro-Israel lobby J Street. We believe it is vital to keep an open line of communication between Jewish American and Israeli leaders with different political backgrounds," the statement read.
"Are J Street supporters really as bad as kapos? The answer, actually, is no. They are far worse than kapos – Jews who turned in their fellow Jews in the Nazi death camps. The kapos faced extraordinary cruelty and who knows what any of us would have done under those circumstances to save a loved one? But J Street? They are just smug advocates of Israel’s destruction delivered from the comfort of their secure American sofas – it’s hard to imagine anyone worse," Friedman wrote in an op-ed published in Israel National News.
During his confirmation hearing, Friedman apologized for his remarks before the US senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"I regret use of such language," Friedman said. "The inflammatory rhetoric during the presidential campaign is entirely over. If confirmed, my language would be measured."