Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman took to Twitter on Sunday to express opposition to the Israeli government's push to pass legislation to reform its judicial system.

"Given the striking parallels between Israel’s current internal rift and the infighting that caused the destruction of the Second Temple 2000 years ago, why would the Israeli Government proceed with its Judicial Reform bill on the eve of Tisha B’Av? Very bad timing," the former ambassador wrote, referring to the destruction of the second Jewish temple, which occurred on the 9th of the month of Av which falls out this Thursday.

Friedman's statement can be seen as a change of course for the former ambassador, who until recently voiced opposition to American voices criticizing the contentious bill. Two weeks ago, in a response to a Tweet by US representative Jerry Nadler in which he expressed express my profound concerns with what he called "Israel’s governing coalition’s anti-democratic judicial overhaul plans," Friedman wrote: "Israel is trying to recalibrate the relationship between the parliament and the court, an issue raised and run on by the elected coalition government. In response to public outcry, it pulled back and has limited its first round of reforms to an issue with which the overwhelming majority of Israelis agree and which aligns it much more closely with the American judiciary. Instead of being a friend and encouraging Israel to find the right balance, this guy is just playing to his woke constituency at Israel’s expense. Some ally!"

The public controversy over the judicial reform legislation has been escalating of late, with many IDF reservists announcing that they will discontinue their service in protest of the move.