“Instead of constituting a substantive shift in US support for Israel, experts say, Democrats’ emboldened critique of Netanyahu should be understood as an attempt to respond to growing voter frustration without changing policy, as the Biden administration remains unwilling to use US aid and arms exports to Israel as leverage to demand a change in behavior. In this context, the choice to focus on Netanyahu ‘is a political decision to avoid outright criticism of Israel’s war conduct,’ said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. For Schumer, in particular, blaming Netanyahu as an individual was a way ‘to avoid the implication that he is lessening his support for the Israeli state or the Israeli people,’ she said. ‘Instead, Schumer is focusing on a man who is unpopular among Democrats to say, ‘See, we are standing up for our values, so voters should stop being mad at us.’’”

“’No one says we need the I.H.R.A. definition so we can go after Nazis talking about killing Jews or classic antisemitic tropes about Jews and media and banks,’ said Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. The definition, rather, ‘is about getting at this other supposed antisemitism.’”

“…Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation of the Middle East Peace, agreed that the sanctions should be seen as a political maneuver—and one, she said, that comes up short. ‘By going after settlers the way they are, not only are they trying to deflect focus away from their lack of interest in protecting Palestinian lives in Gaza, they’ve picked a strategy that lets them not challenge the Israeli government in any way,’ Friedman said.

“Israeli officials did not provide evidence confirming their allegations, but the announcement was followed by a swift suspension of UNRWA funding by countries including the United States, Canada, Finland, and the United Kingdom—imperiling the donor-supported agency’s ability to continue providing shelter, food, sanitation, and other basic services to more than 1 million Palestinians who are sheltering in its facilities in Gaza. Now, said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, the proposed package ‘bars all funding in the pipeline’ to UNRWA. ‘I don’t see any other way to read it.'”

“Although the IHRA was ostensibly founded to combat Holocaust denialism, its definition of antisemitism was in fact a response to the Second Intifada, an uprising by Palestinians against the ongoing Israeli occupation, as Lara Friedman of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) points out. Organizations committed to Zionism, or Jewish nationalism, like the American Jewish Committee, expressly sought a definition of antisemitism that would include anti-Zionism, and the IHRA’s working definition gave it to them in 2016.” [linked to Lara Friedman article in University of the Pacific Law Review]

“That language would prevent UNRWA from accessing any of the $10 billion the bill provides for humanitarian assistance to civilians in the relevant conflict zones including Gaza, a Senate aide told HuffPost. It would also stop the U.S. from distributing up to $300,000 previously earmarked for UNRWA, according to Seth Binder, the director of advocacy at the Middle East Democracy Center. The Senate aide noted the provision would therefore cut off American funding for UNRWA’s activities beyond the Palestinian territories, including in deeply fragile Lebanon and Jordan, which host many Palestinian refugees. ‘It bars all funding in the pipeline. I don’t see any other way to read it,’ said Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace think tank.”

Lara Friedman, president of Foundation for Middle East Peace, said the laws could elevate charges, such as those against a protester for property destruction to the level of a hate crime if the perpetrator is seen with a Palestinian flag.

“‘I’d be curious to know what he means by ‘path of least resistance,’” Foundation for Middle East Peace President Lara Friedman told Responsible Statecraft. “Does he mean, ‘this is the path that gets me rewarded in terms of campaign support,’ or, on the other hand, ‘how I avoid other possible negative consequences like someone giving massive support to my primary opponent?’”…

More than two months after the attacks, members of Congress are increasingly voicing concern about Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and President Biden called Israel’s bombing campaign ‘indiscriminate,’ positions that appear to have become more acceptable weeks after the call in which Himes referred to pro-Israel positions as the ‘path of least resistance.’ Friedman credits that shift, at least partially, to growing engagement by voters concerned about the civilian death toll in Gaza. ‘Constituent engagement matters, especially since the Gaza war started,’ said Friedman. ‘Members are now talking about ceasefire and other things we didn’t hear in the first few weeks. Members are starting to show a bit more empathy and concern for what is happening in Gaza.’”

“…Under this reasoning, the commission will have broad powers to investigate any criticism of Israel that could be deemed unfair or overly exacting — including calls for a cease-fire or citing Israel’s disregard for Palestinian civilians in its targeting. As the Foundation for Middle East Peace’s Lara Friedman, who monitors legislative activity on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, put it, ‘The GOP wants to formally open an era of modern McCarthyism, with criticism of Israel [and] fake concern about antisemitism as hooks to target progressive Americans.’ There’s no need to speculate about intentions. Leading Republicans have already made clear that something as unobjectionable as posting a Palestinian flag is beyond the pale.”

[detailed report on a briefing 11/16/23 by FMEP’s Lara Friedman for Interfaith Action] “‘…At this point, northern Gaza is a wasteland,’ Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), told her audience on 16 November. ‘Israel spent the last 5 weeks literally turning northern Gaza into rubble.’ She described the ongoing devastation as ‘the second Nakba’ and ‘humanitarian catastrophe.’ She recalled that at the start of the war, a senior official in the Israeli army said that at the end of this onslaught, ‘Gaza will have no buildings. Only tents.’ Friedman believes him and predicts that Gaza will not be habitable ‘for a very long time.’ ‘People are dying of cholera, starvation, and thirst in their own homes,’ she said. ‘At that point, no one has the luxury of fighting for national self-determination – which is exactly where people who want to erase Palestinian nationalism want things to be.’…”