Ambassador To Israel Urged Top Orthodox Rabbis To Pray For Trump’s Reelection
United States Ambassador to Israel David Friedman urged top rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak to pray for President Trump’s reelection in 2020.
A video of the incident, which was acquired by the Israeli network Kan, showed Friedman visiting the Ponovezh Yeshiva, one of the most prominent Jewish religious educational institutions in the world. While there, according to Israel National News, one of the leaders of the yeshiva, Rabbi Baruch Dov Povarsky, said that Trump was “a true friend of Israel.”
“The question is what will be two years from now, or less than two years from now,” Friedman responded. “Because what we see on the other side, on the Left, is very frightening. So you need to bless us that we will be successful again. We need all the blessings, from all of Bnei Brak.”
In excellent, fluent Hebrew US Ambassador David Friedman asks a prominent Israeli rabbi for a blessing for Trump’s re-election ‘because what we see on the other side is very frightening.’ pic.twitter.com/EloYN1CsEx
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) April 28, 2019
“Everything comes from Heaven,” Povarsky said.
“So help us out, you’re closer,” Friedman responded.
State Department employees like Friedman are supposed to be neutral about American elections and domestic policy, though they are also expected to advocate for the American government’s positions.
Friedman worked as Trump’s bankruptcy attorney before being confirmed as ambassador to Israel in 2017. In his previous role as a columnist for Israel National News, he was critical of the Israel policies of former President Barack Obama and the dovish lobby J Street. He is one of four people responsible for planning Trump’s Middle East peace plan, but has been criticized by Palestinian leaders for being overly partial to the Israeli side.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor for the Forward. You can reach him at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO