This morning...
Knesset launches Abraham Accords caucus; Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend event
Knesset launches Abraham Accords caucus; Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend event | The Times of Israel
'The Middle East is changing': Kushner joins Israeli lawmakers at Abraham Accords event - Israel News - Haaretz.com
This evening
Ex-ambassador Friedman wants to show the Arab world a tolerant Israel
Ex-ambassador Friedman wants to show the Arab world a tolerant Israel - The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
David Friedman aims to boost Muslim tourism to Jerusalem
“I am very proud of what we did,” declared Friedman, whose office is filled with a mix of religious books and memorabilia from his nearly four years in diplomatic office.
“My idea is to make Jerusalem, which means ‘city of peace,’ worthy of its name and for Jerusalem to be part of the solution, not the problem,” he said. “People talk about commerce, trade and tourism and all those things, and, of course, that flow is from good relations. But by reducing or eliminating religious conflict, I think you really are able to build trust, and trust is what will drive these Accords to expand and to grow.”
David Friedman aims to boost Muslim tourism to Jerusalem (jewishinsider.com)
Knesset launches Abraham Accords caucus; Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend event
Knesset launches Abraham Accords caucus; Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend event | The Times of Israel
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, former U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and daughter, respectively, attended on Monday the inaugural meeting of a Knesset panel dedicated to the promotion of the U.S.-brokered normalization deals, which they helped put together as Trump's senior advisers.
The Caucus for Promoting the Abraham Accords, co-led by Knesset members Ruth Wasserman Lande of Kahol Lavan and Likud's Ofir Akunis, will work to strengthen economic and tourism ties with other state p
The Caucus for Promoting the Abraham Accords, co-led by Knesset members Ruth Wasserman Lande of Kahol Lavan and Likud's Ofir Akunis, will work to strengthen economic and tourism ties with other state p
This evening
Ex-ambassador Friedman wants to show the Arab world a tolerant Israel
Like many other former US officials involved in the Abraham Accords, Friedman looked for a way to continue the efforts toward Israel-Arab peace outside of government. Rather than doing what Jared Kushner’s Abraham Accords Peace Institute and other organizations are doing, Friedman found a different niche
“I want to build trust through religious tolerance, to show how Israel respects the religious rights of all people and, in particular, of the Islamic world,” he said.
“I want to build trust through religious tolerance, to show how Israel respects the religious rights of all people and, in particular, of the Islamic world,” he said.
Monday’s gala dinner launch of the Friedman Center for Peace Through Strength will feature the world premiere of The Abraham Accords, a five-part documentary on the peace and normalization deals, which Friedman produced with the TBN Network.
David Friedman aims to boost Muslim tourism to Jerusalem
His inspiration, says Friedman, whose father was a rabbi, comes from the Bible — in particular, a verse from Isaiah 2:4 that is inscribed on the wall facing the United Nations headquarters in his native New York: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
“What is the paradigm of peace that essentially the entire world accepts?” asked Friedman, reciting the passage in Hebrew. “Isaiah’s vision, that nation will not lift up sword against nation and will not study war anymore, is the end product, but he also gives you a recipe for how to get there in the same verse and the prior verse, that the nations of the world will come to Jerusalem. Why will they come to Jerusalem? Because Jerusalem is the wellspring of all the values that the religious world holds dear and what will happen when they get there? Isaiah goes on to say that G-d will resolve their differences.”
“What is the paradigm of peace that essentially the entire world accepts?” asked Friedman, reciting the passage in Hebrew. “Isaiah’s vision, that nation will not lift up sword against nation and will not study war anymore, is the end product, but he also gives you a recipe for how to get there in the same verse and the prior verse, that the nations of the world will come to Jerusalem. Why will they come to Jerusalem? Because Jerusalem is the wellspring of all the values that the religious world holds dear and what will happen when they get there? Isaiah goes on to say that G-d will resolve their differences.”
Friedman calls it a “2,800-year-old vision” that still resonates with all the religions that recognize Isaiah as a prophet. He also says it’s a “logical extension” of moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, a step he facilitated for former President Donald Trump.
“I am very proud of what we did,” declared Friedman, whose office is filled with a mix of religious books and memorabilia from his nearly four years in diplomatic office.
“My idea is to make Jerusalem, which means ‘city of peace,’ worthy of its name and for Jerusalem to be part of the solution, not the problem,” he said. “People talk about commerce, trade and tourism and all those things, and, of course, that flow is from good relations. But by reducing or eliminating religious conflict, I think you really are able to build trust, and trust is what will drive these Accords to expand and to grow.”
Comment