“The election yielded a shock victory for Hamas, which won the most seats with some 44 percent of the vote. Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, which advocates for rapprochement and peace between Israelis and Palestinians, recently observed that in no single district in Gaza did Hamas win a majority of votes. At present, children make up roughly half of Gaza’s population, meaning only a fraction of the territory’s current population ever cast a ballot for Hamas.”

“…Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, isn’t so sure this picture amounts to a backsliding in support for the Palestinian cause. ‘In the heat of this crisis, where the dominant media narrative is deeply empathetic to and largely reflective of Israeli grief and anger,’ she said, ‘the fact that you still have a large percentage of American voters, Democrats and Republicans, that are showing they believe we need to be sympathetic to Palestinians is actually pretty extraordinary.’…”

“Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, underscored that Biden’s vice presidency taught him to apply this logic to Israel, convincing him that fighting with Netanyahu over settlement building would lead him to ‘hemorrhage domestic political capital.’ Friedman cited right-wing attacks painting both Biden and Obama as hostile to Israel during their presidential campaigns, and noted the recent escalation of such tactics, with AIPAC’s unprecedented spending to defeat progressive candidates during the 2022 Democratic primaries. ‘Biden’s overarching priority is, understandably, ensuring that Democrats hold seats in Congress and the White House,’ she said. ‘They know this is an issue that can be weaponized against them in elections.’”

“By coincidence, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf was on an official visit to Israel last week when the violence erupted, leading to hopeful speculation among some Middle East watchers that her talks would focus on ways to tamp down the mounting communal violence. But Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, said the West Bank was not on the agenda. ‘The clear priority and objectives of the Biden administration when it comes to Israel these days is to find things to rally around in agreement and support.’ Friedman told SpyTalk. ‘So it’s about reassuring Israel on Iran; it’s about working on getting Israel into the U.S. Visa Waiver program; it’s about doubling down on the Abraham Accords and seeking a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.'”

“‘The idea of accusing progressive Democrats of being anti-Israel and antisemitic has been proven to be an incredibly powerful weapon, not just for Republicans to use against Democrats, but to throw in and let Democrats use against other Democrats,’ said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. ‘Until the Democratic party is willing to make space to legitimise a spectrum of views on Zionism and Israel, then this is always going to be a sharp-edged weapon that Republicans just throw onto the other side of the aisle and let Democrats attack each other with it.'”

“”Immediately after this current government came into took office, we started to hear language about the US-Israel relationship being stronger than one government or the policies of one government. And I think that’s something this administration and Democrats in Congress are leaning into hard,” Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, told MEE… ‘This [visit] is about bear hugging Israel, the idea of the nation, the people, the relationship,’ said Friedman. ‘The relationship is bigger than any of these policies. US unconditional, unshakable support for Israel’s security is bigger than any [judicial] reform.'”

“‘This pilot program appears to be an effort by the Biden Administration to bring Israel into the Visa Waiver Program without requiring it to end its systematic profiling and discrimination against Palestinian Americans,’ Foundation for Middle East Peace President Lara Friedman told Mondoweiss. ‘This effort strips the term ‘reciprocity’ of all meaning, gives a U.S. kosher stamp to foreign governments engaging in blatant racism against Americans, and demonstrates yet again that the rule of U.S.-Israel relations – regardless of which party is in the White House, and even when talking about the welfare and rights of American citizens – is zero accountability.’”

“The ease with which anti-BDS bills could be altered in order to create new bills that target, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement or environmental activists is illustrated in the film by Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace: ‘It turns out, you would only need to change about 10 words,’ she says. ‘Why people are not more worried about this is just baffling.'”

“Instead of shifting the status quo, Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), told MintPress News that the program is just another futile attempt by Israel and its lobby to dissuade criticism. Friedman continued, ‘This is consistent with the longstanding talking point of much of the U.S. pro-Israel leadership and the Israeli government, which says, ‘Don’t worry about what we’re doing. Worry about how you’re going to sell it.” Rather than look inward, Israel is instead trying to shift outside perspective. ‘The answer to criticism of Israel for its policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians isn’t to examine those policies and change them. It’s to do a better job changing the subject to things that are positive about Israel or de-legitimizing the critics,’ Friedman said.”

“Lara Friedman, of the Middle East Peace Foundation, clashed with former White House envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt on Twitter.” [Note: he started it…”]