Trump's pick for Israel envoy to undergo unprecedented Senate grilling
Senate Democrats vow tough hearing on David Friedman as advocates of a two-state solution ramp up their lobbying.
Senate Democrats are vowing to challenge President Donald Trump's choice for envoy to Israel over his hard-line, pro-settlement views.
The concerns over David Friedman mark a dramatic shift from the near-unanimous support that nominees for the position have enjoyed for decades. They represent the latest example of the fraying bipartisan consensus over Israel policy, as left-leaning supporters of a two-state solution increasingly find themselves at odds with right-leaning pro-Israel advocates such as Friedman, who has compared the former to Nazi collaborators.
"Some of the language that he has been quoted using against leaders of the Jewish community here I find really inflammatory," said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Middle East panel. "There are some things I'm very interested in exploring with him."
Other Democrats on the panel, which has jurisdiction over diplomatic nominations, shared similar concerns.
