On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed Jack Lew as ambassador to Israel with a close vote of 53-43. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rand Paul (R-KY), who often have different perspectives on foreign policy issues, were the only two Republicans to vote in Lew's favor. The vote comes weeks after Senate aides spoke about holding a confirmation hearing for and confirming Lew, who had worked under the Obama administration as his Treasury secretary.
When Lew's nomination was announced early in September, Katie covered at the time how "With Latest Ambassador Appointment, Biden Again Proves It's Obama's Third Term."
As a CNN report about the confirmation mentioned about support from Sens. Graham and Paul:
Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky were the only two Republicans to vote to confirm Lew.
Graham acknowledged in a statement explaining his vote that there are “legitimate concerns about Mr. Lew,” and his decision was “not something I took lightly.”
“However, I know from my recent travel to Israel that it is imperative the United States immediately have an ambassador in place,” Graham said. “Israel’s back is against the wall and time is of the essence. Now more than ever, the United States needs an Ambassador in Israel.”
“The leaders I spoke with in the Israeli government both knew and were comfortable with Mr. Lew serving in this position,” he added.
Paul said in a statement that “After meeting personally with Jack Lew, I found him to be a thoughtful individual who will strive to do his best to represent the United States in Israel,” and also cited the crisis in Israel as a reason for confirming the ambassador.
Concerns abound with Lew, including and especially when it comes to his involvement in the Iran nuclear deal during the Obama administration, and also how Lew and the Obama administration lied about the deal, as found by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as The Daily Signal highlighted earlier this month.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has said that Lew misled with his answers, and spoke out against his nomination during his hearing, also voting against the ambassador's conformation. As The Daily Signal also mentioned in discussing takeaways from the hearing:
“So how are we supposed to see all of that and then somehow confirm you to this very important post when you deliberately, in my view, misled me, misled Sen. Kirk, misled Congress on what was happening behind the scenes with regards to all of this?” Rubio asked.
Lew responded that he was sanctioned by Iran’s Islamist regime because it didn’t get what it wanted in access to the U.S. financial system.
“It’s important to distinguish between the technical details to facilitate implementation of JCPOA and, more broadly, welcoming Iran into the U.S. financial community,” Lew asserted.
The nominee said banks and governments sought advice from the United States on working with Iran.
Rubio has hardly been the only senator that's taken a vocal stance against Lew. A common theme from Republicans has been Lew's role in the Iran nuclear deal. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) has also lambasted the now ambassador, including recently in a Fox News op-ed.
Not only does Cotton point out that Lew "is none of these things" when it comes to how "America needs a reliable, honest, and forthright ambassador to Israel with a record of defending the Jewish State," his op-ed goes in depth as to just much of a problem the Iran nuclear deal was for Israel:
Our allies in Israel disagreed. In fact, Prime Minister Netanyahu called the agreement, "a very bad deal." An Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University poll found that 73% of Jewish Israelis believed that the deal posed an "existential threat" to their nation. Attendees booed and jeered Lew when he spoke in defense of the agreement at the 2015 annual conference of the Jerusalem Post — one of Israel’s largest newspaper publications.
Netanyahu was so opposed to the Iran deal, which Lew championed, that he traveled to the United States and addressed a joint session of Congress to urge congressional opposition. Lew condemned Netanyahu’s speech as "beyond the pale" and a "huge mistake."
In his final days in office, Obama took his revenge on Netanyahu by refusing to veto a United Nations security resolution condemning Israel. Lew defended the decision, sneering that "I don’t think it’s a great thing for Israel to always have only the United States standing between it and condemnation."
When it comes to Iran, Rep. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) also called to mind the connection between Iran and Hamas with the October 7 terrorist attack against Israel. As The Wall Street Journal pointed reported not long after the attack, Iran had assistance from Hamas.
Jack Lew "was an architect of the Iran deal," Schmitt pointed out in a clip shared to his official X account. Earlier this month, Schmitt also spoke out against Lew from his political account, reminding that "Iran is the chief sponsor of Hamas," adding that "Jack Lew has no business being the US Ambassador to Israel."
In a subsequent post in the thread, Schmitt also pointed out that "Biden has still refused to adequately call out Iran and this nomination adds insult to injury," and called Biden's decision to pick Lew as "lazy or malpractice."
Jack Lew should not be the ambassador for Israel. pic.twitter.com/QTDO5SVfOK
— Senator Eric Schmitt (@SenEricSchmitt) October 31, 2023
Biden should take this seriously not just plug in another soft-on-Iran Obama connected nominee
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) October 16, 2023
Biden has still refused to adequately call out Iran and this nomination adds insult to injury
There are over 300M Americans, can’t believe he landed on Lew. It’s lazy or malpractice
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also spoke out against Lew when it comes to Iran. "The billions from that deal helped fund the Hamas death squads that murdered of Israelis and Americans," he indicated to Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo, adding "it would be nice if we had an ambassador that would support Israel."
Cruz's potential Democratic challenger for his 2024 Senate reelection campaign, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) made much about Cruz supposedly "block[ing]" Lew's confirmation in an op-ed for MSNBC that was corrected less than 24 hours, since it is the Senate Democratic leadership that schedules such hearings. A correction noted that Allred had "misstated Sen. Ted Cruz’s procedural stance on Jack Lew’s appointment."
After all of Allred's complaining about Cruz's position earlier this month, Allred does not appear to have commented on Lew's appintment or Cruz's vote in opposition.
Biden’s pick to be the Ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew orchestrated and implemented the Iran nuclear deal.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) October 25, 2023
The billions from that deal helped fund the Hamas death squads that murdered of Israelis and Americans.
It would be nice if we had an ambassador that would support Israel. pic.twitter.com/nj70V6zNsd
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