There is something deeply unsettling about the decision by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to hold this year’s American Independence Day celebration in Efrat, an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

The Fourth of July is meant to celebrate the universal ideal upon which the United States was founded: the belief that all people are endowed with inalienable rights. Choosing to commemorate it in a settlement beyond the Green Line transforms what should be a unifying celebration into a profoundly political statement.

Symbols matter. Diplomacy is often conducted through symbolism as much as policy.

To millions of American Jews, the ambassador’s decision sends a painful message: that the United States is embracing a settlement movement that many of us believe undermines both Israel’s democratic future and the possibility of a negotiated peace. We love Israel deeply. We believe in its right to security and self-determination. But we also believe that permanent occupation and expanding settlements move Israel further from the vision of a secure,........

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