US Senate to approve Power as UN envoy

Foreign Relations Committee votes to approve Samantha Power as America’s next ambassador to the UN.

By MICHAEL WILNER, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT
Samantha Power points 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Samantha Power points 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on Tuesday to approve Samantha Power as America’s next ambassador to the UN.
That cleared the way for a full vote on her nomination in the 100-member Senate.
Power, 42, has worked on US President Barack Obama’s national security staff, taught at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and is a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for her work in journalism.
Much of her confirmation hearing focused on her stance on Israel, after an interview she conducted in 2002 resurfaced raising questions of her support for the Jewish state. In the interview, she suggested an international force might be required to prevent atrocities in the territories, and quipped about Jewish influence in Washington.
Pressed in the hearing on her comments, Power vowed to provide a fullthroated defense of Israel at the UN, calling for an end to the “unacceptable bias and attacks” often leveled toward Israel.
Power said she would work to eliminate such bias, which she believes is the product of “disproportionate” attention given to Israel.
Power’s academic studies have focused on genocide and war crimes. She is known as a proponent of humanitarian intervention among Obama’s national security aides.