Next US envoy

(TIMES OF ISRAEL) – US President Joe Biden has nominated former treasury secretary Jack Lew to be the country’s next ambassador to Israel, a White House spokesperson told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.

Having served on former president Barack Obama’s cabinet and as his White House chief of staff, 68-year-old Lew would be the most distinguished political appointee to fill the post in Jerusalem.

Lew’s nomination comes at a particularly sensitive period in the US–Israel relationship, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government aims to further advance its highly controversial judicial overhaul, despite repeated pleas from Washington that such far-reaching reforms only be advanced with consensus support, which the hardline coalition sorely lacks.

If confirmed, Lew will also be tasked with reining in the Israeli government’s efforts to further expand the settlers’ footprint in the West Bank in addition to its hardline policies toward the Palestinians more broadly, which have coincided with the most deadly year in the conflict since the Second Intifada.

At the same time, the Biden administration has been working to broker a normalisation agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, weighing massive demands from Riyadh in order to get the deal across the line.

“At this time in the US–Israel relationship, it’s as important as it has been since the 1990s that we have a high-level individual [as ambassador] who is a direct representative of the President and who is respected internationally and on both sides of the aisle here at home,” the senior administration official told The Times of Israel.

“When it’s important for the President to be heard crystal clear in Jerusalem, there is no greater public servant who has more credibility on the issues and a record of accomplishment than Mr Lew.

“When Mr Lew is speaking, you know he’s speaking on behalf of the President,” the official added.

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