WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, faced hecklers and tough questions Thursday in his Senate confirmation hearing.
Friedman, an attorney who worked for Trump and who has expressed hard-line, pro-Israel positions, sought to distance himself from his more inflammatory comments.
"I cannot justify these hurtful words, which I deeply regret," Friedman testified.
Friedman has called former President Barack Obama, other Democratic leaders and critics of Israeli actions anti-Semitic. He likened liberal American Jews to Holocaust-era Kapos, Jews who worked for the Nazis in concentration camps.
He is a financial backer of expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank, land claimed by the Palestinians.
He also has dismissed as unworkable the proposed two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The diplomatic strategy, which envisions an Israeli nation and a Palestinian nation living side by side, has been the cornerstone of U.S. policy since the Clinton administration, although Trump said Wednesday that he is willing to abandon it if Israel and the Palestinians can produce a better plan.
Testifying to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Friedman said he would be "delighted" to see Israeli and Palestinian states co-exist west of the Jordan River but questioned whether that was feasible.
Democrats challenged whether Friedman could conduct diplomacy given his strong opinions and brash approach.
"I'm having difficulty understand whether you really can be a diplomat," said Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the committee.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., called on the Trump administration to withdraw Friedman's nomination.
Friedman said he was qualified for the job because of his deep knowledge of Israeli history, born of a life of study and 50 visits there. He also cited his close friendship with Trump and his fluency in the Hebrew language.
Seconds after beginning his opening statement, Friedman was interrupted by a pro-Palestinian demonstrator who waved a Palestinian flag and shouted, "We aren't going away!"
Five other outbursts, from both pro-Palestinian and American Jewish protesters, including one man in a kippa, followed.
