“Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, explained: ‘A diplomatic mission operates as, literally, an island of foreign sovereignty within the territory of the host country, staffed by foreign diplomats who (for the most part) enjoy immunity from the jurisdiction of the host government… to forcibly enter those embassies would be tantamount to an attack on the country itself.’ Even if a country decided that, since East Jerusalem is occupied territory under international law, it could go ahead and establish such an office — something that the United States would never even consider — practical concerns would make this impossible, as Friedman explains. ‘Only a host country can decide whether to issue diplomatic visas to people sent by a foreign country,’ she wrote, ‘and without such visas there is no diplomatic immunity for diplomats (and the U.S. will not send diplomats abroad in such a situation).'”

“Over the last year, it has become common to hear American progressives condemned for projecting their own concerns—for instance, about anti-Black racism—onto Israel-Palestine. In a recent essay in The Atlantic, Susie Linfield quotes the Israeli journalist Etan Nechin, who claims that the American left treats Israel-Palestine as ‘an offshoot of [its own] identity politics.’ American leftists, Linfield insists, ‘seem as uninterested in the rich texture of Palestinian politics as they are in Israeli politics.’ The irony of this critique is that Israel’s US critics devote far more attention to the realities of Palestinian life than do its supporters. In the two weeks after Palestinian groups were labeled terrorist organizations, for instance, Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (where I’m a fellow) and the former director of policy and government relations at Americans for Peace Now, tweeted about the designation dozens of times.”

“Lara Friedman, president of the American non-profit Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), agreed the new government is stepping into territory even Bennett’s predecessor wouldn’t touch. ‘They’re as bad as the [Benjamin] Netanyahu government and in many ways, they’re worse,’ Friedman said. ‘These settlements are absolutely incompatible with any commitment to anything other than permanent Israeli control over the entire area,’ Friedman added, highlighting the record number of home demolitions throughout Area C of the Occupied West Bank as another way Bennett’s government is pushing increased annexation. …FMEP’s Friedman suggested President Joe Biden’s administration can’t keep up with the sheer number of controversial actions Israel has initiated this year, referring to increased settlement activity and Israel’s designation of six Palestinian organizations as terrorist entities. ‘How much political capital does the Biden administration have to spend on any one of these things while it’s also working on Iran?’ Friedman asked, arguing that the U.S. can’t expend all its political energy on Israel. So if a provocative move slips under the radar, Israel might view that as American approval. ‘If things like a new settlement in East Jerusalem are not on the agenda, it’s seen as a green light from Israel, that the U.S. is not opposing it,’ Friedman said. ‘And if the U.S. does put it on the agenda, it means there’s that much less political capital that it can spend on other things.'”

But at the end of the day, the U.S.-Israel alliance is a lot stronger than any notion of democracy or human rights.

“No U.S. administration wants to be perceived as picking 10 fights every day with Israel, even if Israel is engaging every day in 10 things that really demand a response from the U.S.,” Friedman observed.

“The old consulate predated Israel’s existence, which meant that until Trump closed it, there was no need to seek Israel’s approval for its ongoing function. That’s no longer the case, according to Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace think tank, who from 1992-1994 was a U.S. diplomat at the consulate. ‘A diplomatic mission operates as, literally, an island of foreign sovereignty within the territory of the host country, staffed by foreign diplomats who (for the most part) enjoy immunity from the jurisdiction of the host government,’ Friedman wrote last month in her weekly roundup of congressional action related to the Middle East. ‘No nation can simply rent/buy a property in a foreign country and declare it, unilaterally, under their own country’s sovereignty. The host country must consent to giving up its sovereignty to a foreign nation.'”

“‘You may not care about Israel-Palestine,’ Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, says in the film. ‘But you should care if it’s being used as a hook to legislate in your state and at the federal level against free speech.'”

“‘The cynical weaponization of anti-terrorism laws poses an existential threat both for Palestinian human rights defenders and those defending human rights globally,’ FMEP president Lara Friedman said in a statement. ‘The breadth of signers of this letter underscores funders’ shared recognition of the urgency of challenging this dangerous tactic, and of the moral obligation to defend partners on the ground who, in essence, have been singled out for attack because they have done their work defending human and civil rights too well.'”

“Advocates for Palestinian rights said that the Israelis may get more traction with the Americans than Europeans. ‘The Israelis have long tried to get the Europeans to stop funding these groups, first by accusing them of delegitimizing Israel, then by accusing them of being terrorist groups, and now by accusing them of affiliation with terrorist groups,’ said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. ‘In the U.S., on the other hand, there is a general lack of awareness of the process to delegitimize these organizations and shut down their funding, so when the Israelis show up in D.C. and say they have evidence, the Americans don’t know any better.'”

“Lara Friedman, who heads the Foundation for Middle East Peace, called the dossier ‘a combination of out-of-context quotes implicating the [six] organizations, and which were taken during interrogations of people who were arrested for other things, together with alleged documents suggesting that not every dollar the Europeans gave one of the groups went to the purpose it was intended, yet without connecting that money to terror. In a court of law, this is not considered the highest level of evidence. This is not proof.’ (Full disclosure: FMEP is a financial supporter of the nonprofit that publishes +972 Magazine.) Friedman says the reason the Europeans, as opposed to the Americans, are far more reticent to accept the Israeli allegations as truth is a result of a ‘long escalation.’ ‘The Israelis have long tried to get the Europeans to stop funding these groups: first by accusing them of delegitimizing Israel, then by accusing them of being terrorist groups, and now by accusing them of affiliation with terrorist groups. In the United States, on the other hand, there is a general lack of awareness of the process to delegitimize these organizations and shut down their funding. So when the Israelis show up in D.C. and say they have evidence, the Americans don’t know any better,’ Friedman said.”

“Lara Friedman, president of the Washington, DC-based Foundation for Middle East Peace, tweeted: ‘So saying something like this to attack Dems as anti-Israel is fine, right? But just imagine the shrieks of rage if same words were spoken by [a] member of the Squad.'”

“We have 100s of people from all over the world today which is a testimony to the interest in hearing from you, the Palestinian organizations,’ Lara Friedman of Foundation for Middle East Peace said at the outset.”