Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following message:
ZOA strongly believes U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria and Iraq Tom Barrack should be removed from his positions for insubordination and extreme hostility to U.S. ally Israel.
On August 22, he falsely claimed that Israel is illegally occupying the “Golan Heights of Syria”, which explicitly contradicts the president’s policy, since 2019, that this territory is part of Israel. Amb. Barrack has since walked back this statement, making an unconvincing argument that his comments were only referring to the viewpoint of the United Nations. As an ambassador, Barrack works for President Trump, and not the UN.
Barrack also blamed Israel for an “unnecessary escalation” with Turkey when Israel attacked an air base in northwestern Syria. In fact, the air base is Syrian, not Turkish, and it was empty of Turkish soldiers at the time. Turkey is upset because it was envisioning moving its military aircraft to the base, which would have been a provocation and a violation of the ‘status quo’ understanding between Israel and Turkey concerning the status of forces in Syria. Turkey is occupying significant enclaves in northern Syria, many of which have seen the ethnic cleansing of their native Kurdish populations, replaced by Syrian Muslim Arabs aligned with the Turks.
Meanwhile, Israel occupies a tiny buffer zone adjacent to its border with Syria to protect its population and to defend the Syrian Druze minority that have been the victims of the Syrian government.
Finally, in a bizarre twist, Amb. Barrack said that the Hezbollah terror group and Iran were “missing” from negotiations over Lebanon, even though Barrack has absolutely no jurisdiction over Lebanon, so he shouldn’t be speaking about this subject at all. This statement foolishly undermines U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s careful diplomacy to exclude the Hezbollah terror group and its terror patron Iran from the Lebanon-Israel talks.
Unfortunately, since his appointment as Ambassador, Barrack, who also serves as Trump’s special envoy for Syria and Iraq, has been a consistent loose cannon. He is far too close with Turkish President Erdogan, who is an Islamist dictator who has threatened U.S. allies Israel, Greece, Cyprus, and the various Kurdish militias. Barrack has been silent on Turkish occupation of Cyprus, which has continued for over 50 years, and has seen the expulsion of ethnic Greeks from occupied Cyprus to be replaced by Turkish colonists. He has pushed for Turkey to be given the F-35 planes, the premier fighter-bomber in the Western arsenal, even though it was removed from the program for purchasing a Russian S-400 air defense system.
He also has inappropriately attributed Israel’s airstrike on Syria to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s supposed desire to increase tensions with Syria, which he has implied/stated was for partisan Israeli electoral advantage. Barrack has called both ally Israel and Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah “equally untrustworthy.” He also has downplayed Israel’s democratic character in favor of “benevolent monarchy,” which he has claimed “worked best” in the region.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said:
“Ambassadors have to remember they are working for the President and are not free to invent their own foreign policy. I have known several ambassadors to Israel and America, and each has made it clear to me that they were speaking for the policy of the President and not expressing their own opinions. This case is particularly galling, since each of these examples has done real damage to the policies of the United States.”
ZOA Director of Government Relations Dan Pollak said:
“The President is entitled to name whoever he thinks is best to the post of Ambassador, but he was confirmed to execute the President’s policies and not his own. We urge the Senate to demand that the comments of the Ambassador be constrained by the actual foreign policy of the United States. We particularly commend Sen. Rick Scott for speaking out on this matter.”