On February 16th, the Senate had a hearing for David Friedman, an open supporter of the occupation and Donald Trump’s nominee for Ambassador to Israel. Friedman has no place representing the American people in the Middle East.

As president of American Friends of Beit El Institutions, he has funneled millions  into one of the most extreme settlements in the West Bank. As a columnist for Arutz-Sheva (called the Breitbart of Israel), he continuously defended the occupation. In those pages, he slandered Liberal Jews by calling them “worse than kapos,” said President Obama was engaging in “blatant anti-Semitism,” and called the two-state solution a “scam.”

On top of all this, Senator Schumer, this man said you were “validating the worst appeasement of terrorism since Munich” during the debate over the Iran Nuclear Deal.

There is nothing about Friedman that lines up with the Jewish values of tikkun olam and moral action. Already, many mainstream Jewish institutions -- including the Union of Reform Judaism, the National Council for Jewish Women, the National Jewish Democratic Council, and local JCRCs and Federations -- have taken public stances against Friedman’s nomination.

And there is nothing about Friedman that lines up with long-standing US policy of opposition to settlements. Jewish American politicians -- such as Jerry Nadler and Steve Cohen -- as well as your New York Senate colleague, Senator Gillibrand have all taken public stances against Friedman’s nomination.

We must do everything in our power to stop Friedman from being confirmed. This starts with publicly opposing him -- and continues with using your position as leader of the Senate opposition to stop his confirmation process.