Netanyahu skips right-wing Tel Aviv rally calling for inquiry into police spy claims

Congresswoman: Trump envoy’s memoir presents ‘libelous’ account of our assembly

Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal is accusing former president Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel David Friedman of presenting an “unequivocally false account” of a 2018 assembly they held in his new ebook “Sledgehammer,” which was launched earlier this month.

In Friedman’s telling, the previous envoy met with a congressional delegation visiting Israel that was organized by the dovish Center East foyer J Avenue.

Friedman writes that Jayapal opened up the assembly by tying her expertise visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum to her go to to the Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar, which is slated for demolition by Israel.

“I definitely have a very good sense of the tragedies which have befallen the Jewish folks… and I have to say that [in Khan al-Ahmar] Israel is committing a struggle crime,” Friedman recollects her as having mentioned.

The envoy proceeds to tear into the congresswoman for tying the 2 issues collectively. “I turned to J Avenue’s chief after which again to the congresswoman: ‘You may have been in poor health served by your tour guides.’ And I walked out,” Friedman writes.

In a press release to The Instances of Israel, Jayapal says Friedman’s account is “deeply troubling.”

“As is corroborated by contemporaneous notes, the Holocaust was not a subject of debate nor did Mr. Friedman storm out of the assembly,” she says.

“The libelous account is especially galling as a result of, whereas it was clear that our views differed, it was a typically prolonged and respectful assembly that ended cordially as most conferences of this nature do. Mr. Friedman’s try and sow false controversy does nothing aside from undermine his personal credibility,” Jayapal provides, saying she wouldn’t permit Friedman to undermine her efforts to work towards a two-state resolution to the Israeli Palestinian battle.