Greenblatt and Friedman with basketball players with
Greenblatt and Friedman with basketball players withMatty Stern/U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv

Jason Greenblatt, President Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, US ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Consul General Donald Blum met Tuesday with Israeli and Palestinian Arab basketball coaches in Jerusalem preparing for a two week delegation to the US in the framework of the "sports diplomacy" program of the State Department and the US embassy in Israel.

The coaches spoke of how their work with youths strengthens their communities and how they hope that during the course of their joint trip to America they will be able to compare their management techniques to those of their American counterparts. Mr. Greenblatt praised the participants for their leadership and commitment to working together in the program for the benefit of their communities.

The US embassy uses sport as an effective tool to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians and in order to promote and strengthen social cohesion between different parts of Israeli society. In the course of the activities the embassy has in the past two years brought similar delegations to the US, one for young volleyball players and one for sport teachers at community centers from all sectors of Israeli society. In addition the US government supports different sport organizations in Israel and the PA which promote the values of a mutual society.