US President-elect Donald Trump announced that his long time bankruptcy lawyer, David Friedman, is his nominee as Washington's next ambassador to Israel.
According to CNN, in a statement issued by Trump's transition team, Friedman said he looked forward to moving the US embassy to "Israel's eternal capital, Jerusalem."
According to The Guardian, announcing the appointment in a statement, Trump said: [Friedman] has been a long-time friend and trusted adviser to me. His strong relationships in Israel will form the foundation of his diplomatic mission and be a tremendous asset to our country as we strengthen the ties with our allies and strive for peace in the Middle East.
David Friedman, a bankruptcy lawyer who represented the president-elect over his failing hotels in Atlantic City, served Trumps advisory team on the Middle East. He has set out a number of hard-line positions on Israeli-Palestinian relations including fervent opposition to the two-state solution and strong support for an undivided Jerusalem as Israels capital.
Earlier this year, he called supporters of the progressive Jewish advocacy group J Street "worse than kapos" for supporting a two-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kapos were Jews in Nazi concentration camps that were put in charge of other inmates. Friedman has also said in the past that he does not believe Israeli settlement activity is illegal and opposes a ban on construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem -- another stance that turns US policy on its head, CNN reported.
Friedman, 57, has worked with Trump for more than 15 years and advised the president-elect on the Middle East during his election campaign. He represented Trump after the umbrella company for his three Atlantic City casinos, Trump Entertainment Resorts, went into bankruptcy in 2009.
The change would be a potentially explosive signal in the Middle East, as the status of Jerusalem is one of the issues in the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
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