“Progressive” caucus leader Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) accused Israel of “war crimes” shortly after visiting Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, prompting then-U.S. Ambassador David Friedman to walk out of a meeting with her in 2018.
The story is told in Friedman’s new memoir, Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East, set to be released on February 8 by HarperCollins.
Friedman was opposed by many Democrats, but met with congressional delegations when they came to Israel — except, he notes, left-wing Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), whom Israel barred because of an Israeli law preventing those who advocate boycotts of Israel from entering the country.
Jayapal and several other Democrats had been touring Israel with a group sponsored by J Street, a controversial, George Soros-backed left-wing organization…
