Mahmoud Abbas calls US ambassador to Israel ‘son of a dog’

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has labelled the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, a “son of a dog” during a scathing attack on Donald Trump’s policies.

“The US ambassador in Tel Aviv is a settler and a son of a dog,” Abbas said in comments to Palestinian leaders in Ramallah on Monday, according to the Guardian.

Relations between Abbas’s government and President Trump’s US administration have broken down since the White House recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December.

The Palestinians see the disputed city as the capital of their future state.

Friedman, who was Trump’s personal lawyer before being appointed last year, is a longstanding supporter of settlement building in the occupied West Bank, considered illegal under international law.

In response to Abbas, Friedman, who is Jewish, told a conference that Abbas’s comments could have antisemitic connotations.

“His response was to refer to me as ‘son of a dog’. Is that antisemitism or political discourse? I leave that up to you,” he said, according to a US embassy spokeswoman.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Trump’s decision to move the embassy had caused Abbas to “lose it”.

“For the first time in decades, the US administration has stopped spoiling the Palestinian leaders and tells them: enough is enough,” Netanyahu said on Twitter. “Apparently the shock of the truth has caused them to lose it.” 

Abbas’s comments appeared to be in response to a tweet by Friedman earlier on Monday.

In it he referred to an attack in the West Bank as “in the north”, raising questions over whether he views it as part of Israeli territory, and accused Abbas’s Palestinian Authority (PA) of failing to condemn it.

“Such brutality and no condemnation from the PA!” he tweeted, referring to a Friday car ramming that killed two soldiers and a Sunday stabbing in Jerusalemthat left an Israeli dead, both carried out by Palestinians.

Israel has militarily occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967. 

Abbas’s government has limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank, while the Jewish state annexed East Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

All countries currently have their embassies in Tel Aviv and view the future status of Jerusalem as a matter to be negotiated between the parties.

But in December Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and in May Friedman will become the first US ambassador in the city as the embassy is moved.