Several Democrats expressed concern that the United States does not have an acting ambassador to Israel amid the escalating conflict and attacks.
Democratic lawmakers on Saturday aggressively pushed for a quick confirmation of Jacob J. Lew, who was nominated by President Biden last month after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel earlier in the day.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Ben Cardin (D-Md.) issued a statement expressing hope that other senators would join him in “promptly confirming” Lew.
“Right now, it is as critical as ever that we have a Senate-confirmed ambassador to Israel,” Cardin said in his statement.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) expressed solidarity with Cardin, writing on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, “Spoke with Chairman @SenatorCardin tonight. We both agree that we need to move Jack Lew’s nomination for Ambassador to Israel as the first order of business when the Senate reconvenes.”
Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) also called for Lew’s confirmation.
“We need an ambassador to Israel and a chief of naval operations,” he wrote in a post on X. “This is a serious situation that requires us to put aside our differences and make sure we have our full complement of leaders in defence and foreign policy.”
Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) also expressed concern about the lack of an acting Israeli ambassador during an interview with MSNBC’s Katie Phang.
“I’ve travelled quite a bit around the world in my role as ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, and people don’t appreciate exactly how bad it is when we don’t have an ambassador in a country, and that’s true everywhere. It is taken as an affront,” Himes said.
Events such as the attacks on Israel and the war in Ukraine show the importance of having an ambassador.
“Crises like this remind us of the international costs of political gridlock, political chaos,” he said.
Lew, who previously served as Treasury secretary under former President Barack Obama, was nominated by Biden in early September.
Many members of Congress have also pointed to the lack of an acting speaker of the House as a challenge to US engagement with Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday after the group launched a barrage of rocket attacks and infiltrated the country in a surprise attack.
More than 250 Israelis and 232 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting so far, according to Israeli media and the Palestinian government.
