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By Dmitriy Shapiro
(JUNE 17, 2022 / JNS) Two Biden administration nominees for top posts related to the Middle East came under fire for alleged anti-Israel bias by Senate Republicans in their confirmation hearing on Thursday.
The hearing, held in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, comes at a critical time as U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Israel and Saudi Arabia next month while the United States is struggling to repair its frayed relationship with the Arab kingdom amid skyrocketing gas prices.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took issue with Tamara Cofman Wittes, the nominee for assistant administrator for the Middle East at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is responsible for distributing aid for development in the Middle East.
Cruz said that rather than a confirmation hearing, the Democratic majority convened a hearing on the “profound anti-Israel bias of the Biden administration.”
During questioning, Cruz pointed to Cofman Wittes’s controversial past of being highly critical of the Abraham Accords during the Trump administration, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
“Why were you urging Arab countries not to deepen ties with Israel?” he asked, referring to a September 2020 tweet, reported by the Washington Free Beacon, where she wrote: “If I were an Arab leader weighing ties with Israel, I would have 2 things in mind. 1) A promise from [Trump adviser Jared] Kushner now isn’t worth much. Why not wait until after Nov elections? 2) Bibi’s backtracked on his commitments to UAE; his promises aren’t worth much either. Let’s wait & see … ”
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