Cozen befriended Biden in 1976, and told
The Algemeiner that the two have bonded over golf outings, spent Jewish holidays together, and talked often of their shared concern for preserving the memory of the Shoah.
“He was steeped in that history and heartbroken that it ever took place,” said Cozen. “He was a huge supporter of the remembrance of the Holocaust, as well as a huge supporter of Israel.”
Biden’s first foreign trip as a senator was to Israel, in 1973, during which he met with Prime Minister Golda Meir before the Yom Kippur War. Since then he has met every person to hold the office, through 36 years in the Senate and eight more in the White House.
An Israeli watchdog group said Tuesday that the government approved nearly 2,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem and the West Bank settlements a day before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Israeli authorities made a major last-minute push this week to advance settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, which the Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state, in the twilight hours of the Trump administration. The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now said the majority of the new government tenders published on Tuesday, President Donald Trump s last full day in office are deep inside the West Bank. Earlier this week, the Israeli government advanced plans for nearly 800 homes in West Bank settlements.
JERUSALEM (AP) An Israeli watchdog group said Tuesday that the government approved nearly 2,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem and the West Bank settlements a day before President-elect Joe.
Yes and yes, Blinken answered.
Trump in May 2018 moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, fulfilling a campaign promise and following through on a U.S. policy decision that was routinely delayed since 1995 to relocate the embassy from the beachfront city to the Holy City. Holding back on moving the embassy was viewed as key leverage by the U.S. to push for Israelis and Palestinians to engage on negotiations to establish a Palestinian state, with their own capital in east Jerusalem.
Trump and his allies in the administration and Congress have celebrated the moving of the U.S. embassy as a recognition of the Trump administration s stalwart support of Israel. Opponents of the move and the Trump administration s policies towards Israel, on the other hand, have argued that the U.S. embassy move favored Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Analysis: What will survive of U.S.-Middle East policy under Biden? By Maayan Lubell and Rami Ayyub
FILE PHOTO: Israel s Prime Minister Netanyahu, U.S. President Trump, Bahrain s Foreign Minister Al Zayani and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister bin Zayed wave during signing ceremony for Abraham Accords in Washington
TRUMP HEIGHTS, Occupied Golan Heights (Reuters) – Trump Heights, Trump Square, Trump train terminal: Israel isn’t shy about honouring Donald Trump, who is widely admired among Israelis for his staunch support of their country.
But in the Palestinian territories, no U.S. president was openly reviled as much as Trump, or depicted in such unflattering terms in portraits and effigies across the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.