“Now that the embassy has been moved, many in Congress will surely argue that the intent of the law was to keep the embassy in Jerusalem, even though there is nothing in the bill that explicitly forbids a president from moving it back. And, as long-time observer of Jerusalem affairs, Lara Friedman told me, ‘If Congress wanted to prevent the Embassy being moved back to Jerusalem, or wanted to put in place penalties for such an action, a new law would be required (one that I have no doubt would pass easily if it looked like a president was seriously contemplating such a reversal).’”

“‘The fundamental message of this episode,’ argues Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace…’is that Congress is not going to do anything if Israel annexes.’ A staffer at an activist organization who has followed the letter’s progress puts it more pungently: ‘Bibi and [Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron] Dermer must be laughing their asses off.’”

“In this special Election 2020 series of The President’s Inbox, James M. Lindsay sits down each week with two experts with different views on how the United States should handle its foreign policy challenges. This week, he discusses the future of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Michael Doran, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace.”

“The backlash against Tlaib as anti-Israel it isn’t only ridiculous; it’s hypocritical and disingenuous. And attacks like these almost always intentionally omit identical instances on the other side, and miss the opportunity to use our national, cultural symbols for the greater good. For one thing, a number of Israeli institutions officially display the same map that sparked uproar in order to illustrate the borders of the state of Israel. On Twitter, Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, named a few: Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, Geological survey and ministries of agriculture, foreign affairs and environment.”

“Lara Friedman, who took over from Duss as president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, which focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, described Duss as operating from a deep place of empathy in his views on foreign policy. ‘For people who are only able to have compassion for one side, whatever side they are coming from, I think someone like Matt is going to be challenging,’ she said. ‘And I hope they are challenged by it.’”

“Americans who self-identify as Jewish have historically voted Democratic. According to Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, ‘Survey data regularly confirms that the connection between American Jewish voters (non-Orthodox) and the Democratic Party is grounded in a worldview that prioritizes a set of issues and values – ones that today are embodied in this party.’ That includes prioritizing issues such as health care, gun violence, Social Security, and Medicare. Exit polls in 2016 found that 71 percent of Jewish voters supported Clinton. However, RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said in an interview this week that he predicts Trump will fare better with Jewish voters in November.”

“While the public response in the United States to this controversy has been largely outrage, some question whether it does constitute anti-Semitism at all, suggesting that Nafar’s statements are satirical in nature due to the polarizing nature of the conflict. UNC junior Fouad Abu-Hijleh told The Daily Tar Heel, ‘When he said, ‘This is my anti-Semitic song,’ I think he was alluding to that, like, if you criticize Israel, people are going to call you an anti-Semite. That’s how I perceived it as a Palestinian.’ Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and a self-identifying liberal Zionist, stated that the performance remained within the bounds of appropriate academic discourse and pointed out that the conference included criticism of Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, as well as of U.S. policy on Gaza.”

“‘It is not new that AIPAC is giving a stage to voices that are far to the right of U.S. policy or of the mainstream U.S. Jewish community,’ said Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. The conference has repeatedly hosted Pastor John Hagee, who has said Hitler was fulfilling God’s will by pushing Jews to move to Israel and called Hurricane Katrina a punishment for a gay pride rally, Friedman pointed out. Hagee founded an influential pro-Israel network called Christians United for Israel… ‘AIPAC has behaved for the entire life of the peace process in a manner that suggests that the current policies of the Israeli government and the Trump administration are in no way problematic for its worldview,’ Friedman said.”

“AJC’s polls ‘reveal that the majority of US Jews either disapprove or strongly disapprove of Trump’s handling of US-Israel relations,’ according to a report by Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace.”

“For decades, U.S. presidents have sought to avoid the I-word, fearing it would needlessly antagonize Israel. Even President Jimmy Carter—perhaps the most pro-Palestinian occupant of the White House in 50 years—steered clear of using the word, though he did make it clear that Israel’s construction of Jewish settlements on land inhabited by Arabs before the 1967 Arab-Israeli War was ‘contrary to the Geneva Convention, that occupied territories should not be changed by the establishment of permanent settlements by the occupying power.’ ‘The use of ‘illegal’ was clearly an official expression of Carter administration policy, even if Carter didn’t shout out the word in a speech,’ according to Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. But Carter’s administration likely went further than any other U.S. administration in asserting the illegality of settlements. Friedman, who compiled a detailed modern history of presidential positions on settlements, said it was President Ronald Reagan who first proposed a freeze on new settlements in an effort to promote peace. Reagan, however, never characterized them as illegal. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama issued calls for an end to Israel’s occupation of Arab lands seized since 1967—but didn’t call them illegal.”