Ambassador Dermer: Trump peace plan should give Jews confidence

"You have the best chance to take advantage of this historic moment of opportunity that exists because everybody that speaks to them knows that they speak for the president of the US," he said.

By OMRI NAHMIAS
Ron Dermer meets with Jewish leaders at a pre-Passover reception on April 16, 2019 (photo credit: THE ORTHODOX JEWISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE)
Ron Dermer meets with Jewish leaders at a pre-Passover reception on April 16, 2019
(photo credit: THE ORTHODOX JEWISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE)
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration and his Middle East envoys should give Jews confidence, according to Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer. He used his platform at a recent pre-Passover reception to ensure the crowd that the much-anticipated peace plan will take Israel's interests into consideration.
Speaking at an event Tuesday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, Dermer mentioned Jared Kushner, Jason Greenblatt, Avi Berkowitz and Ambassador David Friedman as those who should take the country's interests seriously.
"You have the best chance to take advantage of this historic moment of opportunity that exists, because everybody that speaks to them knows that they speak for the president of the United States," he told the audience.
Jewish Insider first reported his remarks.
“I know a lot of people are concerned that the peace plan is going to be coming out soon. But I have to say, as Israel’s ambassador, I am confident that this administration, given its support for Israel, will take Israel’s vital concerns into account in any plan they will put forward,” Dermer added.
The Israeli ambassador also made an apparent reference to the latest remarks by the Palestinian leadership that the plan would be "dead on arrival," and said he would never blame any American president or envoy for the failure to achieve peace.
“Anyone who does that doesn’t understand why we don’t have peace," Dermer continued. “The Palestinians have to cross the Rubicon. It’s going to be up to them. But what you can be is better or worse facilitators to get them to that point. And I could not think of better facilitators, with better relations both with Israel and the Arab world, to take advantage of this historic opportunity.”
Greenblatt tweeted Tuesday that the peace team will not release any details of the plan ahead of time.
"Continued speculation doesn't help anyone & harms the effort. We kindly suggest a stop to the guessing games," he wrote.
Greenblatt added that while only the parties themselves can resolve the conflict, he said he believes that the plan can help them achieve that goal.
"We’ve been working hard drafting what we believe is a fair, realistic & implementable plan. Fair agreements require compromises," said the president's special envoy on Twitter.
The “Deal of the Century,” as it has been coined by the Trump administration, is supposed to be released sometime in the next two months, after the new government is formed. The administration agreed to push off the release of the plan until after Israeli elections, which took place on April 9.
The Passover reception was attended by dozens of Jewish community leaders, most of them from the Orthodox community. Several prominent administration officials, such as Greenblatt, Berkowitz and Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism, Elan Carr, attended the event as well.
“It is a rare thing, a very rare thing, a president like President Trump and an administration like the Trump administration, that doesn’t happen every generation,” Dermer noted. “It may happen once in many, many, many generations. And Israel, the Jewish state, and I believe, the Jewish people are blessed to have a real friendly administration."


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