Senate committee advances Biden’s pick for Israel ambassador after most Republicans reject nominee

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday advanced Jacob Lew’s nomination — President Biden’s pick for ambassador to Israel — by a 12-9 vote, with most committee Republicans rejecting Mr. Lew over his support for the Obama-era nuclear deal that gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

The embarrassing absence of a formal U.S. ambassador to a critical ally has only been highlighted by the intense diplomacy that has broken out in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror rampage that killed over 1,400 Israelis and foreigners, including more than 30 American citizens.

Democrats on the committee rejoiced over advancing Mr. Lew, who had an integral role in crafting and lifting U.S. sanctions on Iran when he served in the Obama administration as treasury secretary between 2013 and 2017.

President Biden nominated Mr. Lew to serve as ambassador to Israel in September, months after Thomas R. Nides announced his resignation. Mr. Lew’s nomination now heads to the full Senate for what is likely to be a confirmation vote split along party lines later this week.

“I am pleased to see Jack Lew’s nomination advance,” Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, Maryland Democrat, said in a statement. “Israel is at war, and the United States needs an experienced, Senate-confirmed ambassador on the ground working hand in hand with our Israeli partners.”

The committee separately moved on a number of Mr. Biden’s diplomatic nominations on Wednesday, including that of career Foreign Service officer Herro Mustafa Garg, whom Mr. Biden has tapped to be U.S. ambassador to Egypt, another critical diplomatic post central to the current escalation tensions in the Middle East.

The nominations of Richard H. Riley to be ambassador to Somalia, Mark Toner to be ambassador to Liberia, Paul K. Martin to be inspector general of the United States Agency for International Development, and David E. White Jr., to be deputy director of the Peace Corps were also advanced.

But the Lew nomination has attracted the most attention and scrutiny since committee Republicans grilled him at a hearing last week over his role in lifting sanctions on Iran under the 2015 nuclear deal — formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), negotiated by President Obama and repudiated three years later by President Trump.

Sen. Marco Rubio suggested during the confirmation hearing that Mr. Lew had knowingly lied to lawmakers about the nature of the sanctions relief given to Iran under the nuclear deal.

The Florida Republican raised new doubts over Mr. Lew’s support for Israel upon voting against advancing the nomination.

“After thorough review of Mr. Lew’s qualifications record, including his history of misleading and lying to members of Congress, I will not support his nomination,” Mr. Rubio said in a statement.

“America’s next ambassador to Israel must stand unequivocally with our strongest Middle East ally in the wake of barbaric attacks by Iranian-backed Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists,” the senator said.

An Oct. 18 committee hearing to consider Mr. Lew’s nomination was dominated by concerns among other Republicans over his posture toward Israel and Iran amid Mideast tensions that have escalated since the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war.

Mr. Lew told lawmakers he would “ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself” and would work with the U.S. ally to end the attacks by Hamas if he were confirmed.

“At this moment, there is no greater mission than to be asked to strengthen the ties between the United States and the State of Israel and to work toward peace in a region that has known so much war and destruction,” Mr. Lew said.

Mr. Lew, an Orthodox Jew, indicated during the hearing that he believes further talks on the Iran nuclear issue should be on hold, at least for now. “I don’t think this is the moment to be negotiating with Iran,” he said.

Idaho Sen. James E. Risch, the top Republican on the committee who voted against Mr. Lew on Wednesday, was unconvinced by the nominee’s answer.

“Not only will you need to support Israel as it responds to these attacks, but also as it contends with the enduring, and indeed existential, Iranian threat, which I think is an underlying and foundational issue here,” Mr. Risch told Mr. Lew during last week’s hearing. “I have reservations about your ability to do that.”

Mr. Risch said after the hearing that he had “real problems with Jack Lew,” according to CNN.

“I believe that the best you can say about it is he misled Congress badly in the operation of the JCPOA and indeed assisted Iran in accessing the U.S. financial system when he had promised us, sitting in the same chair, that he would not do that,” Mr. Risch said. “Big problem.”