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As President Biden visited Israel on Wednesday to pledge U.S. assist in its combat in opposition to Hamas, his nominee to fill the conspicuously empty American ambassador’s submit to the nation confronted Republican opposition at residence.
The nomination of Jacob J. Lew, who served as Treasury secretary through the Obama administration, was introduced final month however has gained urgency since Hamas attackers slaughtered at the very least 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7. The assaults prompted Israel to launch an intensive bombing marketing campaign in opposition to the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas.
However regardless of pleas from the Biden administration and main Democrats to verify Mr. Lew rapidly, most Republican senators on the International Relations Committee expressed opposition to his affirmation, arguing he was unfit for the submit due to his previous work on a multinational deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“We want this factor crammed. The issue I’ve is that it must be stuffed with the fitting particular person,” Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, the highest Republican on the panel, mentioned throughout Mr. Lew’s affirmation listening to Wednesday. He accused Mr. Lew of performing in “what I feel was a backhanded manner of supporting Iran.”
As Treasury secretary, Mr. Lew performed a key position in negotiating and selling a deal that eased sanctions on Iran’s nuclear sector in alternate for Tehran’s accepting limitations on its nuclear enrichment and associated actions. However Republicans cost that Mr. Lew lied to lawmakers on the time about how the deal can be applied, significantly when it got here to entry to beforehand frozen funds to Iran, which they consider Iran used to construct up terrorist proxy teams posing a menace to Israel, together with Hamas.
The Republican opposition will not be anticipated to kill Mr. Lew’s candidacy. Democrats — who expressed assist for him — maintain a majority on the panel. However it might complicate efforts to get his bid via the complete Senate rapidly, by forcing Senator Chuck Schumer, the bulk chief, to make use of time-consuming procedural maneuvers to arrange a vote.
Israel has lacked a Senate-confirmed U.S. ambassador since Thomas R. Nides left the submit in July. Mr. Schumer and different Democrats have warned that persevering with to go away the submit empty can be detrimental to the USA’ potential to assist Israel.
“Delaying him can be egregious at a time like this,” Mr. Schumer mentioned Tuesday of Mr. Lew on the ground, including that the nominee was “a ferocious ally of Israel.”
Mr. Lew sought to show his pro-Israel bona fides on Wednesday, telling senators about his Jewish household’s Zionist roots and itemizing his efforts as Treasury secretary to impose and implement sanctions in opposition to each Hamas and Iran.
“I can not bear in mind a time when Israel’s battle for safety was not on the forefront of my thoughts,” Mr. Lew mentioned. He added: “Iran is a menace to regional stability and to Israel’s existence. If confirmed, I’ll uphold President Biden’s dedication to disclaim Iran a nuclear weapon.”
However his declarations did little to discourage Republican senators.
Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, accused Mr. Lew of getting stored secret from Congress a license that will have allowed Iran to transform funds held at a financial institution in Oman into euros, and pressured banks world wide to do enterprise with Tehran, citing the findings from a 2018 report from Republicans on the Senate Everlasting Subcommittee on Investigations. Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, accused Mr. Lew of performing because the Iranian authorities’s banker by negotiating offers to launch funds in alternate for American prisoners.
“The huge inflow of money was in the end a direct deposit into Iran’s terrorism account,” Mr. Barrasso mentioned.
Mr. Lew argued that he had adhered strictly to the phrases of the deal easing nuclear-related sanctions, often known as the Joint Complete Plan of Motion — and annoyed officers in Tehran by refusing to go any additional.
“They complained that my actions have been what stored them from getting full entry to the world monetary system,” he mentioned. “We did the letter of the J.C.P.O.A., nothing extra.”
If confirmed as ambassador, Mr. Lew shall be beginning at a time of heightened fears that the battle between Israel and Hamas would possibly engulf the area, probably even pulling in U.S. forces.
“Stopping this from turning into a multifront conflict is massively vital for Israel, for the area, for the world,” he mentioned. He added that bringing residence the Individuals regarded as hostages of Hamas can be one among his high priorities. Not less than 13 Individuals are unaccounted for, in accordance with the State Division, however it’s unclear what number of are being held hostage.
But Mr. Lew conceded that longer-term targets such because the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and an eventual two-state resolution with the Palestinians, would in all probability have to attend till hostilities died down.
He additionally promised that he would do his utmost to make sure that civilians in Gaza obtain humanitarian help, drawing a distinction between them and Hamas militants.
However he resisted Democrats’ efforts to get him to induce the Israelis to train restraint.
“This isn’t the time for us to be lecturing Israel on what they should do,” Mr. Lew mentioned, including that Israeli officers knew they needed to conduct the conflict “in a manner that’s per minimizing the influence on harmless civilians.”
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