David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel under former President Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Monday that Vice President Kamala Harris' comments about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were "shameful" and "offensive."
Harris, during an interview with "60 Minutes" on CBS News, avoided giving a direct answer when asked if Netanyahu is "a real close ally," saying, "I think, with all due respect, the better question is, Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes."
Friedman told "National Report" that Harris "answered the question as politicians do," but said that, in his view, "her answer is no, Netanyahu is not my friend, he's not a friend of the Democratic Party. And I think the Democratic Party has been very clear about that."
He added that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have "made that clear." He said, "It's really unprecedented for the United States to take that kind of a direct shot at a democratically elected leader of a critical ally in a time of war."
Friedman, author of "One Jewish State," said that Harris' refusal to call Netanyahu an ally is "very offensive." He said: "Israel went into Rafah against her advice. They were able to do so without inordinate civilian casualties. By doing so, they were able to free five hostages and to discover massive smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza that helped fuel Hamas' attack."
The former ambassador concluded, "What they're doing here is entirely political, but it's really punitive to Israel, and frankly it's shameful to be going after, again, a democratically elected leader in a time of war."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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