Former US officials Pence, Friedman given honorary doctorates at Israeli West Bank university

Former US vice president Mike Pence and the former US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman are awarded honorary doctorates from Ariel University, located in the West Bank.

Pence was awarded the title “in recognition of his many years of commitment and dedication to the Jewish people and for his advocacy of Zionism and of the State of Israel,” the university says in a statement.

“I thank and appreciate the fact that I was in the most sympathetic American administration the State of Israel has ever had, an administration that kept the promise and moved the American embassy to Jerusalem,” Pence says at the event, according to the university.

Meanwhile, Friedman was given the award in recognition of his “outstanding contributions in the field of diplomacy,” Ariel says.

“When people think about this part of the world, they focus far too much on the problems and far too little on the solutions, even when solutions are staring them in the face,” Friedman is quoted as saying.

“Ariel University is a solution: a solution to ignorance, a solution to intolerance, and a solution to prejudice,” he adds.

Ariel University has faced boycotts from various academics abroad and its professors have lamented discrimination by other universities within Israel, which they say refuse to recognize its legitimacy due to its location in the West Bank.