US ex-Treasury secretary Jack Lew top candidate for envoy to Israel
- Reports say he could be nominated by President Joe Biden in the coming weeks
- Lew also served as Barack Obama’s budget director and as White House chief of staff
Former US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is the leading candidate to be the new US ambassador to Israel and could be nominated in the coming weeks, the Axios media organisation reported on Sunday, citing three people familiar with the matter.
Lew, 67, who also served as Barack Obama’s budget director and as White House chief of staff, could be nominated by President Joe Biden in the coming weeks, Axios reported. Lew has reportedly told former White House colleagues he’s interested in the job.
Axios said there was a sense of urgency about US President Joe Biden’s choice for the post because the White House was pushing for a diplomatic mega-deal with Saudi Arabia that could include a normalisation agreement between the Saudis and Israel.
Other candidates include Stuart Eizenstat, a former US ambassador to the European Union, as well as three former Democratic members of Congress: Robert Wexler, Steve Israel and Ted Deutch, now CEO of the American Jewish Committee, according to sources Axios didn’t identify.
Whoever succeeds former Ambassador Tom Nides – who departed his post in Jerusalem in July after less than two years – will face a complicated political situation, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes through a judicial overhaul opposed by many Israelis and the Biden administration. The White House called the move “unfortunate.”
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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Biden intended to nominate Lew, who has held several top US government jobs including director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Biden hasn’t made a final decision, the news outlet cited a US official as saying.