Is the Trump Administration Really in Support of a Two-State Solution?

One of many groups of homes in Beit El

On December 16, 2016, Judy Maltz from Haaretz posted an article titled “Fund Headed by Trump’s Israel Ambassador Pumped Tens of Millions Into West Bank Settlement”. In this article, Maltz discuses the settlement of Beit El, which is located on the West Bank, and has been supplied approximately $2 million annually from an organization called the American Friends of Beit El Institutions (AFBEI). The President of the organization is David Friedman, a bankruptcy lawyer who President Trump has selected to become the new U.S. ambassador to Israel. Much of the donations received from the AFBEI have gone to fund initiatives across college institutions across college campuses in the U.S., which would focus on protesting a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. Furthermore, there have been links to funds from the AFBEI going to a militant rabbi in the yeshiva by the name of Zalman Melamed. Melted has openly advocated for troops to remain in the West Bank and not give the land up to their Palestinian counterparts. The teachings of Melamed as well as the curriculum in the U.S. about Beit El has been focused on Zionism, and according to Maltz they are targeting the most politically active and hostile students in both regions. There is widespread criticism of the support of the AFBEI and Trump’s administration in the Beit El area because of recent strides to alleviate tensions in the region by establishing a two-state solution. However, with the AFBEI receiving support from President Trump, who according to CBSNews donated $10,000 to the organization in 2003, it seems unlikely that progress with bee made towards the two-state solution.

The information presented in this article brings to light a very important issue of whether the U.S. will in fact support a two state solution in Israel, or if Friedman and the AFBEI will influence President Trump on the issue. However, it is important to remember that although this is a highly controversial issue Haaretz and the author of this article do a poor job supporting their claims with imbedded links, which leads to the speculation as to whether this information is reliable. Upon further research, there were several new sources that supported the claims made by Haaretz, yet many of those news sources include Israeli National News, Yeshiva, Besheva Newspaper, and HaMakom. However, after verifying the reliability of each news source, it became clear that some of these news agencies were listed on the Beit El website as direct affiliates.

The author does a very professional job of remaining very unbiased and using very objective language; however, it does seem as though the overall undertone of the article is opposed to Trump and his cabinet’s support of Beit El. This can be made very clear by simply looking at Maltz’s Twitter page, which reveals that she is openly opposed to Trump and his views. Maltz was also an alumni from Barnard University, which is located in New York City and can be commonly characterized as openly liberal. This could provide a reason as to why Maltz may not agree with the Trump support in the West Bank, especially since an extremely right-wing organization is providing financial backing to the region of Beit El.

Haaretz is considered to be one of the most reliable news sources in Israel, yet it is clear that most of their articles voice open support of the two-state solution between Palestine and Israel. Maltz seems to fall in line with the rest of the Haaretz writers in the sense that they all voice their opinions of a two-state solution, and have liberal tendencies. Overall, this is a very well written article; however, the reliability of some of the information seems questionable.