Foreign Ministry retweets faux David Friedman account
Journalists, Jewish organizations also hoodwinked by post in ambassador’s name, which says he hopes to ‘work out of Jerusalem very soon’
Raphael Ahren is a former diplomatic correspondent at The Times of Israel.
The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday was duped into retweeting a post from a fake Twitter account impersonating incoming US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
Both the US embassy in Israel and the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, told The Times of Israel the account was fake.
The Monday tweet attributed to Friedman rekindled speculation about a possible relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv, per US President Donald Trump’s election campaign promise, since it said he hoped to “work out of Jerusalem very soon.”
Friedman is scheduled to present his letter of credence to President Rivlin on May 16, officially taking up his post of ambassador.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry was not the only one fooled by the unverified account, which has since been suspended. Representatives from Jewish organizations, including the Orthodox Union, journalists from both Israeli and US publications, and some 200 others also retweeted the post, which was the account’s single posting. The Israeli Maariv daily ran a story before issuing a correction.
Ahead of Trump’s visit to Israel later this month, US Vice President Mike Pence said last week that Trump “is giving serious consideration into moving the American embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.”
Trump is due in Israel days before Israel marks the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem’s reunification in 1967. According to unconfirmed reports, he intends to publicly recognize both West and East Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but stop short of moving the embassy there.
On June 1, a presidential waiver delaying the relocation — which is required by US law — expires, at which point Trump will either have to sign another waiver or announce the embassy’s relocation to Jerusalem.
Friedman, Trump’s former bankruptcy lawyer, is said to own an apartment in Jerusalem but is widely expected to move into the US ambassador’s residence in Herzliya.
The New York Times last week reported that Friedman plans to divide his time between the ambassador’s residence and the King David Hotel.
The US embassy has reserved a permanent presence in various Jerusalem hotels for decades.
