American Ambassador to Israel David Friedman issued a statement Monday regarding his recent meeting in Washington with President Donald Trump and senior administration officials in preparation for the release of the much-anticipated ‘Deal of the Century’ framework for Middle East peace.
Friedman pushed back on rumors regarding the content of the peace plan and the timetable for its release, as well as reports of disagreements among the administration’s Middle East team, including Friedman, special envoy Jason Greenblatt, and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner.
"Jared Kushner, Jason Greenblatt and I had a very productive meeting last week in the Oval Office with President Trump, Vice President Pence, Secretary Pompeo and Ambassador Bolton in which we discussed the President’s vision for comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” said Friedman.
"Reports of our meeting have been wildly inaccurate. I would like to reaffirm that the United States remains committed to sharing its vision for peace with Israel, the Palestinians and other regional and international stakeholders at the appropriate time.”
"Our timing, our strategy and our messaging is and will be entirely our own. We intend to release the President’s vision when the Administration concludes that we have maximized its potential for acceptance, execution and implementation. Moreover, Mr. Kushner, Mr. Greenblatt and I are of one mind in terms of how best to proceed. Those anonymous ‘experts’ who purport to speak for the Administration on this issue are ill informed and mistaken.”
