Netanyahu and Trump do not necessarily have to utter the words “two-state solution” or “Palestinian state” during tomorrow’s White House meeting in order to send out a pro-peace message, the head of the dovish US Jewish group J-Street says.
“These words are not magical,” says Jeremy Ben-Ami. “The end result that J Street is for is that the State of Israel should have borders and that those borders be recognized by its neighbors and by the world… We do believe that there should be a Palestinian state and relations between the State of Israel and all the states around it,” but it is not absolutely necessary for Trump and Netanyahu to pledge allegiance to a “two-state solution,” he says.
J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami addressing the group’s conference in Washington, March 21, 2015. (Courtesy JTA/J Street)
Ben-Ami also attacks the designated ambassador to Israel, Trump’s pro-settlement lawyer David Friedman, for policy views that “are outside the views of 50 years of American administrations from both parties.”
Friedman, he says, has a “temperament and disposition [that] are entirely unsuited for the position of ambassador, where diplomacy is a requirement.”
The nominee, whose Senate confirmation hearings are scheduled for Thursday, once called members of J Street “worse than kapos.”
— Raphael Ahren
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