Senate Confirms Lew Nomination to be Ambassador to Israel

The Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s nominee to be ambassador to Israel on Tuesday, sending a key diplomat to America’s besieged ally in the Middle East.

The Senate voted 53-43 to confirm former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew as the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Two Republicans — Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky — voted with Democrats.

Lew’s confirmation followed a procedural vote earlier Tuesday to advance his nomination.

Citing Hamas’ war against Israel, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Lew’s confirmation “one of the most important and consequential nomination votes the Senate has taken in a long time.” He also said Lew’s swift confirmation would “help send a powerful message of support to Israel.”

“The need to confirm Mr. Lew is plain and irrefutable: Israel is in crisis, America needs to stand with her, and a most urgent and obvious step would be to ensure that we have an ambassador in place,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Mr. Lew has a strong, long, proven record as a strong public servant and ferocious ally of Israel.”

Biden nominated Lew in September to succeed former Ambassador Tom Nides, who stepped down in July. But Lew’s nomination took on new urgency when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel in Gaza on Oct. 7, killing the most Jewish people in a single day since the Holocaust. 

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held Lew’s confirmation hearing earlier this month. There, he faced a litany of questions from skeptical committee Republicans about his role in a nuclear deal with Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism, as former President Obama’s Treasury secretary. 

The panel favorably reported Lew’s nomination out of committee last week in a 12-9 vote, with Paul crossing the aisle to vote with every Democrat. But much of the GOP opposition on the floor was related to his negotiations with Iran.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters that confirming Lew doesn’t signal to Israel or the broader Middle East “that we’re serious about taking on and dealing with the threat that Iran poses.”

“Obviously, he was the architect of the Iranian nuclear deal,” Thune said. “I hope that the administration will get serious about Iran and the role that they play in all of this violence and bloodshed and destruction that we see across the Middle East because until we do, until the rest of the world takes it as seriously, we’re gonna continue to see more of the same.”