“Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. is done in the House, and the U.S. ambassador to Israel may not be far behind,” according to a report by Ron Kampeas for JTA.
Kampeas cited multiple Democrats as sources that Israeli Ambassasdor “Ron Dermer’s role in the banning of two congresswoman from visiting Israel means he will never get a meeting in a Democratic office again.”
“House majority leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, is especially infuriated because Dermer appeared to assure him that Tlaib and Omar would be permitted to visit,” he wrote in the article published Aug. 20.
David Friedman, the ambassador to Israel, may not escape an official reckoning either, according to Kampeas. “There is serious talk on Capitol Hill of a formal request to the State Department inspector general to report on whether Friedman has politicized his role,” he wrote.
Friedman released a statement on Twitter saying that the United States “supports and respects the decision of the Government of Israel to deny entry to the Tlaib/Omar Delegation.”
“By backing Israel’s decision to bar entry to two House members, many Democrats say, Friedman showed disloyalty to one of his constituents — Congress,” wrote Kampeas.
“There’s concern with regard to the U.S. government official involved here for politicizing his role and using his diplomatic platform to behave in a way that for the past two and a half years that has been very undiplomatic,” Halie Soifer, the director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, told him.
