Thread by @halbfinger

More BONUS TRACKS from our very illuminating interview w/@USAmbIsrael David Friedman: nyti.ms/2wJIoiK

Noting there hadn’t been a parade of other nations setting up embassies in Jerusalem, I asked whether it was leadership or folly, if nobody is following...

His answer: “Give it time,” said he’d had “advanced discussions” with other countries thinking about following suit.

There was some inconsistency to his explanations for various U.S. actions against the Palestinians. He acknowledged the “sticks” of U.S. policy, and said those were “a function of responding to events,” i.e. Palestinian actions/statements...

...and he said there “needs to be accountability for what we consider to be bad behavior,” but also said the Trump team was “not looking at this in terms of reward and punishment.”

He actually said, “I don’t think we’ve done anything on refugees,” but I reminded him that the U.S. had cut all its funding for Unrwa, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, and argued to reclassify millions of them out of their refugee status.

“Yeah, but that's only that's just to bring them in line with the refugee status of everybody else,” he said — as if it had nothing to do with an over-all strategy of pressuring the Palestinians.

Closing of P.L.O. office in Washington, he said, was required by U.S. law in response to Abbas’s call to prosecute Israelis in the International Criminal Court. “He expects the United States to just kind of blow it off,” Friedman said of Abbas. “We’re a nation of laws.”

Another contradiction: He praised “P2P” — people to people — programs when I noted that he hadn’t said much about reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. “I think they’ve been largely successful,” he said. But the U.S. has cut those, too, I noted...

He said there were plenty others out there funded by NGO’s, other countries, or self-funded. Then he said that there was “a lot of paternalism out there.” Trying to bring Israelis and Palestinians together, he said, was “missing the point..."

“...They know each other," he said. "They can find each other. They live w/each other. They work w/each other… It's helpful. It's good, it's going to continue... I've seen some great programs. I think they work great. But that to me is unfortunately not where the problem was.”

Intvu was in stately 200-year-old residence of the ex-Jerusalem consulate, which as independent diplomatic mission used to engage w/the Palestinians, while Tel Aviv embassy dealt w/Israel. Now, it’s merged into the Jerusalem embassy, and the old mansion is Friedman’s new home.

Was that merger, which demoted Palestinians to the focus of a unit within the embassy, I asked, not another deliberate slight? “It did not make any sense for the United States to have an embassy and a consulate in the same city,” he said, as if this were only about efficiencies.

I suggested such a singular situation had arisen for unique reasons. “There's absolutely no reason why the United States Embassy cannot engage in diplomatic initiatives with the Palestinians,” Friedman said.

He went on to say that he’d met w/“many, many, many Palestinians” — not govt officials but biz leaders — including at multiple iftars, and “they actually appreciate having access to someone who himself has access to the highest levels of government,” meaning the president.

On Bahrain, though @USAmbIsrael asserted there’d been “massive pressure” on many Palestinian business leaders not to attend, he couldn’t give any details about that except for a threatening letter he said had been received by Ashraf Jabari, a controversial Hebron businessman.

Jabari, whose interests involve used cars and cement, is being promoted by Trump team as emblematic of the kind of businessperson they want to see in Bahrain; PA/PLO say he’s a quisling and a fugitive from justice.

But Friedman said Jabari was not alone, he just was “more willing to have his picture taken. He comes with a group. it's not just him.”

Friedman said Bahrain was partly meant to modernize Palestinian economy from “largely kind of old-economy operators who run factories, who run wholesale ops, retail ops" to "the 21st century, which involves less goods, more services, more technology.”

Last footnotes: On anniv of embassy move, @USAmbIsrael said Israel was “on the side of God.” Now, says he only meant that “Israel is living proof of the fulfillment of the prophecies” of "Jews returning to their biblical homeland after having been banished.”

In same speech, Friedman said U.S. would continue to push envelope in its support for Israel: “I don’t believe in enough.” But when I asked what more Trump could bestow upon Israel, he said he only meant an ultimate deal: “In my mind the next step was peace in the Middle East.”

In that speech, Friedman had invoked ancient Jewish temple, where an upward-sloping ramp required High Priests to keep pushing ahead or backslide. So I asked if he shared the view of some Jews who want to rebuild the holy Temple, that this could hasten the coming of the Messiah.

“I'm very reluctant to talk about personal beliefs, because I think they're irrelevant,” he said, before deviating from that policy because “I think this is an important one."

His answer: No.”

That's it for this THREAD. Thanks for reading.