Tom Nides, the previous US Ambassador to Israel, resigned from his position in July. Since 2021, he’d fulfilled his job. President Joe Biden has finally nominated someone to replace him. His new nominee is facing criticism for his past position on Israel.
New Nominee
On September 5th, the White House announced that former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has been nominated by President Joe Biden to become the next United States Ambassador to Israel. Lew, who is of Jewish origin, was the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the president’s chief of staff during the administration of former President Barack Obama. He was the head of the Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton.
Lew is now the head of the National Committee on United States-China Relations and the co-president of the board of the National Library of Israel in addition to being a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In addition to his role as managing partner at Lindsay Goldberg, he is a private equity firm and a visiting lecturer at Columbia University.
Controversial Positions
When it became clear that Lew would succeed Nides, a profile of him was published in The Times of Israel. According to the article, the 68-year-old has been a longtime supporter of Israel but has occasionally spoken out against Israeli policy.
In 2016, Obama refused to veto a resolution before the United Nations Security Council that condemned the Israeli government for its settlements. Lew defended the position by claiming he didn’t think America should be the only thing “standing between [Israel] and condemnation.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly opposed Obama’s Iran nuclear deal in a speech to the US Congress in 2015. According to Lew, the prime minister made a “huge mistake” by giving the speech since it “wasn’t going to work” and by doing so, he helped spread the stereotype that Israelis are “partisan.”
Morton Klein, an economist, urged legislators to reject Lew’s nomination in an opinion piece he penned for The Jerusalem Post. The nominee, he claimed, “has a history of insulting” the prime minister and will “further harm the US-Israel relationship.” Klein claimed that while working for the Obama administration, Lew lied on the Iran nuclear deal.
Critical Time
The Biden administration is currently trying to encourage Saudi Arabia to improve ties with Israel, and Lew’s nomination coincides with these efforts. Lew, should he be confirmed, would play a pivotal role in those negotiations and would presumably have to deal directly with Netanyahu, with whom he has had a contentious relationship for some time.
Israel would benefit from mending fences with Saudi Arabia. However, negotiations between the two countries will be difficult. Because of this, some people are starting to doubt that Lew is the right man for the job.
