Former US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, a religious Jew, has emerged as the leading candidate for the next US Ambassador to Israel, according to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid.
Lew, who has previously served as a cabinet member under Presidents Clinton and Obama and acted as White House chief of staff during the Obama era, has reportedly been pushing for the position, and he is the only candidate that is being thoroughly vetted by the White House for the nomination.
The United States has not had an official ambassador to Israel for several weeks, following the resignation of Tom Nides, who served in the position since the start of the Biden presidency.
The new ambassador will face significant challenges, including a politically charged atmosphere in Israel driven by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul agenda — an agenda staunchly opposed by the Biden administration.
Adding to the urgency is the White House’s ongoing attempt to orchestrate a deal involving Saudi Arabia which aims to include a normalization agreement between the powerful Arab country and Israel.
As US Treasury Secretary under President Obama, Lew interacted with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer during their tenures in Washington, thus fostering relationships that might prove beneficial in his new role.
Lew was a firsthand observer of the often tumultuous dynamic between former President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu, particulalry on issues like the Iran nuclear deal and the establishment of new yishuvim.
If Biden does nominate Lew to the position, the full Senate would have to vote to approve him as the next US Ambassador to Israel.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
11 Responses
Looks like a leftist to me
Another liberal Jew. Liberal first, Jew second.
blah blah blah
Any Jew who works for this filthy TREASONOUS America hating and Israel hating Marxist Biden dictatorship.
Is nothing but a self hating Jewish Kapo
He uses a goyish name (“Jack” is actually a nickname for “John”, and among goyim is not a proper forename), is clean shaven and does not wear a yarmulke in public. He appears to be ashamed that people might think he is frum (which given the nature of liberal democrats, is probably an issue).
He’s a member of Hebrew Institute (Rabbi Avi Weiss’s shul) in Riverdale.
Lew the Jew fails all the superficial tests. He was an Obama chief of staff, which sounds OK to me.
We really are expanding the definition of “Religious Jew” Last I heard he keeps neither Cholov Yisroel nor Yoshon.
He also attended a state dinner during Sefirah that had a violinist playing background music.
What’s next, a “Religious Jew” that goes out in the street not wearing a Black hat?
He has been supremely competent at everything he’s ever done. As Treasury Secretary he travelled around the world keeping Shabbos and kashrus to the fullest, and was probably responsible for naming a Nodvorner chassid as assistant secretary of treatsury. As White House Chief of Staff Obama used the send him home earlier on Friday than he wanted to go to get ready for Shabbos in time. In earlier years he ran the campaign to free one of the Russian refuseniks (I forget which one) from his basement. I suspect he was also probably responsible behind the scenes for persuading Obama to overrule a lot of the the intelligence community who wanted to keep Jonathan Pollard in prison for the rest of his life. Not to be underestimated.
american jews in positions of power have never been good for israel, because they have been too busy proving that they are impartial, to advocate for what they believe in.
henry kissinger, for example, delayed resupply during the yom kippur war, whereas his boss, richard nixon, had no problem overruling him and expediting the shipments.
“court jews” are not always a good thing.
Shloime,
But they can be very helpful. Oscar Strauss was appointed to the Dept. of Commerce. This was because Ellis Island was under Commerce. With him in charge the tone of the immigration dept (within the law) towards Jews was to err on the lenient side & let them in.
One Yom Kippur Strauss didn’t show up in Shul. When asked where he was he said, “I had to go to work to stop the deportation of 7,000 Russian Jews.”
How many Jews are alive today because Strauss helped their ancestors get into America?