Palestinians want their future state to be “devoid of Jews” and are pushing for the equivalent of an ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, according to a Trump campaign adviser on Israeli relations.
“The Palestinians want Israel to absorb countless ‘refugees’ — people who never lived in Israel and whose ancestors were never forced to leave Israel — while their so-called ‘state’ is required to be, as the Nazis said, Judenrein (devoid of Jews,” David Friedman told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper. “It is an entirely racist and anti-Semitic position.”
Friedman’s remarks followed a video posted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday in which he said the Palestinian demand that Jews leave settlements in the West Bank is tantamount to an “ethnic cleansing.”
Friedman noted that the demand is unfair, given that there are Arabs who live “side-by-side” with their Jewish counterparts in Israel where they “enjoy the strongest human and civil rights.”
“With this background in mind, the Prime Minister of Israel correctly observes that the Palestinian demand to remove all Jews from their ancestral homeland in Judea and Samarai (the West Bank) is nothing short of an attempt at ethnic cleansing,” said Friedman.
The Obama administration responded to Netanyahu’s remarks by calling the ethnic cleansing claim “inappropriate and unhelpful.”
“We obviously strongly disagree with the characterization that those who oppose settlement activity or view it as an obstacle to peace are somehow calling for ethnic cleansing of Jews from the West Bank,” said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau during a press conference Friday.
Friedman chastised the Obama administration’s response, saying it “should be ashamed of their misguided reactions.” He went on criticize the administration’s use of of the term “two state solution” as code for one state for Jews and Arabs in Israel and another for only Palestinian Arabs.
“Our candidate, Donald Trump, has stated on more than one occasion that when it comes to building in the Land of Israel — whether it is homes, businesses or schools — that is a decision for the Israeli people alone and it is not something the U.S. government needs to interfere in,” Marc Zell, co-chair of Replublicans Overseas Israel chapter. “Trump believes it is for the Israelis and Palestinians to work out among themselves, and that it’s not appropriate for the United States to weigh in on the dispute in a manner that clearly favors one side – the Palestinian side.”
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