The Biden administration withdrew its nominee for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights after the candidate’s social media history came to light.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the administration had not been aware of anti-Semitic comments made by James Cavallaro, a law professor at Stanford Law School, who accused House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of being “Bought. Purchased. Controlled” – comments he made while sharing an article about his donations from AIPAC.
This was not the only questionable comments The Algemeiner found, however.
In other tweets, Cavallaro characterized Israel as an “apartheid state” and accused the US and Israel of “atrocities.”
Cavallaro began deleting the offending Tweets from his timeline on Monday after The Algemeiner reached out to him for comment. A reply had not been received by press time. […]
In February 2022, responding to Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) visit to Ramallah where he met with Palestinian students, Cavallaro asked “did they say anything about high-level, US congressional delegations legitimating and praising the Israeli apartheid state?” […]
While the IACHR commissioner role is not a Senate confirmed position, he has also made inflammatory comments about the character of both Democrats and Republicans, calling Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) “bought and paid for” and labeling Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) as “pedantic, self-righteous and pompous,” urging her to “learn from the Palestinian people,” and to resign over her “repeated moral failings.”
In November 2021, he wrote of Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) that “I don’t know whether to call you Senator or Shameless Motherf*cker [sic]. Actually I do.” (The Algemeiner)
“His statements clearly do not reflect U.S. policy, they are not a reflection of what we believe and they are inappropriate to say the least,” Price said.
Cavallaro took to Twitter to react to the news.
Today, the State Dept informed me that they were withdrawing my candidacy because of my view that the conditions in Israel/Palestine meet the definition of apartheid under international human rights law. (3/11)
— James (Jim) Cavallaro (@JimCavallaro) February 14, 2023
I have removed many of my previous tweets because I was proactively & in good faith addressing concerns the @StateDept had raised during the vetting process about public expressions of my personal views on U.S. policy. (6/11)
— James (Jim) Cavallaro (@JimCavallaro) February 14, 2023
My nomination would not have affected U.S. policy on Israel. What has the withdrawal of my nomination achieved? The removal from the @CIDH of the potential return of a committed, experienced advocate for human rights in the Americas. (8/11)
— James (Jim) Cavallaro (@JimCavallaro) February 14, 2023