Ambassador Friedman: Trump to Release Peace Plan at ‘Timing With Best Chances for Success’

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman confirmed Monday reports of a high-level meeting President Donald Trump held on his Israeli-Palestinian peace plan at the Oval Office last week, essentially denying reports that the U.S. government is delaying publication of Trump’s peace plan because of alleged pressure from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the wake of the recent coalition crisis.

“Jared Kushner, Jason Greenblatt and I had a very productive meeting last week in the Oval Office with President Trump, Vice President Pence, Secretary Pompeo and Ambassador Bolton in which we discussed the president’s vision for comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” wrote Friedman.

“Reports of our meeting have been wildly inaccurate. I would like to reaffirm that the United States remains committed to sharing its vision for peace with Israel, the Palestinians and other regional and international stakeholders at the appropriate time.

“Our timing, our strategy and our messaging is and will be entirely our own. We intend to release the president’s vision when the Administration concludes that we have maximized its potential for acceptance, execution and implementation. Moreover, Mr. Kushner, Mr. Greenblatt and I are of one mind in terms of how best to proceed.

“Those anonymous ‘experts’ who purport to speak for the Administration on this issue are ill informed and mistaken.”