Former US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be the next US ambassador to Israel on Capitol Hill, Washington, US, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis

The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to be the next US ambassador to Israel in a 53-43 vote.

Lew, a longtime Washington insider, was confirmed along mostly party lines, with Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) as the only Republicans to vote for his confirmation.

Republicans had criticized Lew for his involvement in promoting and implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the formal name of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran brokered by the Obama administration — amid concerns about the Biden administration’s policy toward Iran in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,400 people in Israel. Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group in control of Gaza, has received funding, training, and other military support from Iran.

“I know my Democratic friends say we have to confirm Mr. Lew to show our support for Israel. I would turn that around and say we have to defeat Mr. Lew’s nomination to show that our nation is finally serious about confronting the ayatollahs in Iran,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s Iran policy. “There’s no clearer or more immediate action that senators could take to show a new direction for US policy in Iran than to reject the nomination of one of the architects of the Iran nuclear deal. Both the United States and Israel deserve a lot better than Jack Lew.”

Lew, who is Jewish, has garnered widespread support from American Jewish groups as well as praise from current and former Israeli officials, a point noted before the nomination vote on Tuesday by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“A little over a week ago I was in Israel with 10 US senators, meeting with the Israeli leadership. And I must tell you, they are very much looking forward to having a confirmed ambassador from the United States in Jerusalem to help in regard to the challenges they’re now facing as a result of Hamas’ terrorist attack in Israel,” Cardin said. “[Lew’s] nomination has been welcomed by the Israelis, including Israel’s foreign minister who said he looks forward to working with him. The former Israeli ambassador to the United States [Michael Oren] wrote that Lew is ‘a true statesman and a passionate Jew … a mensch in every sense of the word.'”

During his confirmation hearings, Lew said that he was opposed to negotiating with Iran in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks, saying that this was “not the moment” for talks with the Islamic Republic. 

Lew also said that part of his job as ambassador would be doing what he could to ensure that Israel was able to defeat Hamas and to put an end to the Palestinian Authority’s “pay for slay” payments that reward the families of deceased and captured terrorists.

“I will do my utmost to end the horrific attacks by Hamas and ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself,” Lew said. “And I will spare no effort on working to help American citizens now captive to return home safely. And I will work to root out payments to terrorists and their families as rewards for their heinous crimes.”