When an American Jewish politician is simultaneously complimented by the likes of the progressive J Street and the traditional Orthodox Union, it is time to ask – what is his true identity?
This unprecedented favorability phenomenon has occurred with the recent nomination and confirmation of Jack Lew as the new United States ambassador to Israel. Thus, in a press release praising Lew’s nomination, the anti-settlement J Street said that it was “personally thrilled that the President has chosen someone with his combination of skill, experience, and commitment to the US-Israel relationship.”
Similarly delighted, Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of OU Kosher, commented in an op-ed in this newspaper (November 5), that he found Lew to be “a deeply sincere and committed Jew of the highest integrity, character, and intelligence – in short, a rare mensch of the highest order. In a region where trust is often in short supply, Lew’s character will undoubtedly serve as a foundation for building fruitful relationships and fostering understanding.”
Despite this favorable support from divergent Jewish organizations, all Republican Party Senators, with two exceptions, voted to reject Lew’s recent ambassadorial nomination. His Senate vote totals were much worse incidentally than the figure he garnered in 2013, in the confirmation vote for Secretary of Treasury, 71-26.
This time, in the closest vote in Senate history on a US envoy to Israel, the vote to confirm was 53-43. Given the pressures Israel will likely face from Washington, related to the war with Hamas, a more solid showing for the new American envoy would have been more convincing.
Lew's troubling record on Israel and Iran
Nonetheless, it is wrong to attribute Republican opposition to Lew’s nomination to ordinary party politics. In the Senate, Israel is blessed with many admirers and supporters. What influenced many of these Republicans who voted to reject Lew was his record in strongly promoting Barack Obama’s (2015) nuclear arms deal, JCPOA, Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action.
Lew, as secretary of treasury, and secretary of state John Kerry were the Obama administration’s two main proponents. Since this deal eventually gave Iran $150 billion, Lew as treasury secretary needed to certify the deal’s financial bona fides.
In addition, Lew pitched the argument that tactically, the deal was doable, that this Iranian despotic state would allow inspections, that it would not hide chemical elements, and that ultimately, in this new era of international goodwill, Iran would agree to not produce a nuclear weapon. Not included in the JCPOA deal was Lew’s decision to grant Iran a banking license.
SOME QUOTES from Lew about this utopian nuclear future which was, of course, never realized:
“The final deal will be built around incredibly robust and intensive inspections… This deal will only be finalized if the connective tissue meets a tough standard of intense verification and scrutiny… What we are doing is to effectively guarantee that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon… Making sure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon is a national security priority of the highest order.”
Fast forward – Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearings in October 2023, found that Lew was still a believer in the value of appeasing Iran in a nuclear deal despite all the subterfuges, lies, and terrorism that the Islamic Republic undertook since the original signing. ”I believe deeply that an agreement to not have nuclear weapons would be a good thing. But this is not the moment.”
Questioning Lew’s credentials on the Senate floor, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, perhaps Israel’s most thoughtful supporter in that body, argued, “Jack Lew is an Iran sympathizer who has no business being an ambassador. It’s bad for the United States. It’s bad for Israel to have an Iran sympathizer as an ambassador to that country. He helped Iran evade American sanctions and he lied to Congress about it.”
Moreover, opponents of Lew’s ambassadorial confirmation at the committee hearings, cited his defense of the administration’s refusal to use a veto of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 directed against Israel for its “illegal occupation” of parts of Judaea and Samaria. In the past, when such measures were voted on, the United States vetoed them rather than abstained as in the Obama case.
Before Lew’s confirmation vote, Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Lew is the “wrong person at the wrong time in the wrong place.”
No doubt, Risch was unaware of his prophetic call with the entry of Lew’s ex-boss, Barack Obama, into the deepening controversy over Gaza’s next day. While many observers cite Obama as among Israel’s least supportive Presidents, a grateful Lew claimed, “No administration has done more for Israel’s security than this one.”
Just as Lew remains on good terms with the Jewish community, combining the unlikely plaudits of both J Street and the Orthodox Union, he faces a new challenge in Jerusalem over loyalties in the diplomatic arena to either old boss Obama, or current one, President Joe Biden.
Obama wants to be a player in the decision about the Day After for Gaza. Conceptually, however, the two presidents represent different Israel-related outlooks. Obama’s orientation comes from the anti-colonial wing of the Harvard Faculty Club. Thus his observation, “What Hamas did was horrific and there’s no justification for it. And what’s also true is that the occupation and what’s happening to Palestinians is unbearable.”
By contrast, Biden, an old-fashioned Christian Zionist, still tells anecdotes about Golda Meir, and took his children and grandchildren to Dachau concentration camp, instilling in them a respect for Jewish vulnerability.
Ambassador Jack Lew, who are you?
The writer is an emeritus professor of political science at City University of New York.