A Senate panel has approved the nomination of David Friedman as the next United States ambassador to Israel.
The controversial, right-wing bankruptcy lawyer, who was President Donald Trump’s nominee for the post, won 12 votes to nine at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
The appointment of Mr Friedman would mark a U-turn in American policy on Israel. He is an enthusiastic supporter of Israeli settlements and has said he is in favour of Israel annexing the West Bank. He has also claimed that the number of Palestinians living in the West Bank is exaggerated.
“The Israelis have just as much right, if not a much greater right, to Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] as the Palestinians,” he said during an internet radio show, Your Voice Radio, in November. “When they sit down and talk to each other, it’ll be on that basis. That, I think, is frankly a unique position of Donald Trump, and one which we’re very proud of.”
