The Palestinian Authority has threatened the outgoing US ambassador to Israel with legal action because of his decision to recognize the City of David in Jerusalem as an “icon of America’s Judeo-Christian values.”
In a statement on Tuesday, the PA’s foreign ministry accused the ambassador, David Friedman, of recognizing a “settlement project … in the occupied city of Jerusalem.”
“Friedman’s bigoted statements are a flagrant violation of international legitimacy and its resolutions, and international law and diplomatic traditions,” the PA said.
The statement added that the PA would consult with with “legal experts and the concerned authorities to discuss the possibility of holding Friedman accountable before international and specialized courts.”
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January 19, 2021 6:13 pm
At a ceremony Monday, Friedman and Paul Packer — Chairman of the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad — dedicated a plaque to honor the City of David.
“I’ve often wondered, what monuments inspired our Founding Fathers?” Friedman asked during the ceremony. “When the drafters of the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that our Creator had endowed each and every American with certain unalienable rights, what monuments inspired them? I suggest that those monuments are located right here, in the ancient City of Jerusalem.”
Friedman’s observation was rejected by the PA as “illegal, invalid … and reflects Friedman’s intentions and the dark ideology he tries to attach not only to his country, but to the American constitution and principles, and to employ them for the benefit of the Israeli narrative in Jerusalem.”