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Trump's Pick for Israel Ambassador Regrets Inflammatory Talk


David Friedman testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Israel, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb, 16, 2017..
David Friedman testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Israel, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb, 16, 2017..

The combative attorney President Donald Trump picked to be his ambassador to Israel says he regrets using "inflammatory rhetoric" during the "highly charged" 2016 presidential campaign.

David Friedman told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday that language he used "has come in for criticism — and rightfully so." He says his use of incendiary comments is "entirely over."

But Friedman doesn't specify in his prepared testimony which remarks he's apologizing for.

Friedman had called J Street, a liberal Jewish advocacy group, "worse than kapos," a reference to Jews who helped the Nazis imprison fellow Jews during the Holocaust.

J Street worked closely with the Obama administration and is critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The group says Friedman "lacks the temperament and responsibility required for such a sensitive diplomatic assignment."

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