Media

  • What Is Hamas Thinking Now? (HuffPo)

    “HuffPost discussed Hamas’ statements and its role in Israeli-Palestinian developments with two longtime analysts of the conflict [FME’s Lara Friedman & MEI’s Khaled Elgindy.” See article for Friedman’s analysis/quotes.

  • Hawkish Democrat Quietly Seeking To Extend U.S. Ban On U.N. Aid To Palestinians (HuffPo)

    “Gottheimer’s letter suggesting additions to the State Department funding bill also proposed halting U.S. support for any international organizations whose conduct ‘constitutes antisemitism’ under a controversial definition crafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association. Even considering that change is striking, and implementing it would be alarming, argued Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace think tank. ‘Gottheimer’s text represents an unprecedented effort to make U.S. activities and relationships in the international arena, including those critical to U.S. national security, conditional on adherence to a hugely controversial definition of antisemitism, the clear focus of which is to suppress and punish criticism of Israel,’ Friedman told HuffPost.”

  • How Biden Boxed Himself In on Gaza (The American Prospect)

    “Now, Netanyahu’s extremist allies are using the pretext of Hamas’s attacks to fundamentally reshape Gaza and Palestine. ‘Israel this time has a different set of objectives,’ Lara Friedman of the Foundation for Middle East Peace told me. ‘They want to take this moment to fundamentally change the paradigm and erase Gaza.'”

  • Chuck Schumer and Democrats’ New Line on “Netanyahu’s War” (Jewish Currents)

    “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.’’”

  • The Man Who Helped Redefine Campus Antisemitism (New York Times)

    “’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.’”

  • Understanding Biden’s Settler Sanctions Strategy (Jewish Currents)

    “…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.

  • Senate Deal Would Block All Funding to UNRWA as Gazans Starve (Common Dreams 2/5/24)

    “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.'”

  • Who’s Behind Push for States to Codify Weaponized Definition of Antisemitism? TruthOut 2/7/24

    “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]

  • Biden-Backed Bipartisan Senate Bill Targets Key Humanitarian Aid For Palestinians (Huffington Post)

    “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.”