Senate confirms Jack Lew as ambassador to Israel

The Senate moved to confirm President Biden's nominee pick for ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, Tuesday after weeks of Republican opposition.

In a 53 - 43 vote, senators confirmed Lew despite mounting Republican opposition over his past work on Iran sanctions during his time as Treasury secretary under the Obama administration.

Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., were the only Republicans to vote in favor of Lew. 

On the floor Tuesday afternoon just after the 3:15 PM ET vote, Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Lew "is the right man for the job of ambassador to Israel."

"He's a capable public servant to fierce allied Israel and commands a broad base of trust and respect," he said. "And he is a decent and humane man."

BIDEN NOMINEE FOR ISRAEL AMBASSADOR JACK LEW ADVANCES IN SENATE COMMITTEE, HEADED TO FLOOR VOTE 

But a handful of Republicans opposed Lew in the weeks leading up to his confirmation. Every Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — except Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., — voted against Lew's advancement in the committee earlier this month. 

"There's no clear or more immediate action that Senators could take to show a new direction for US policy on Iran, than to reject the nomination of one of the architects of the Iran nuclear deal with the United States and Israel," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.,— a member on the armed services committee — said on the floor Tuesday. "Both the United States and Israel deserve a lot better than Jack Lew, I urge my colleagues to oppose the nomination."

In 2018, a Senate report by the investigative subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee found that Lew, during his tenure as secretary to the Treasury under the Obama administration, "granted a specific license that authorized a conversion of Iranian assets worth billions of U.S. dollars using the U.S. financial system."  

In response, Lew said during the Oct. 25 hearing: "I want to be clear, Iran is a threat to regional stability and to Israel's existence. If confirmed, I will uphold President Biden's commitment to deny Iran a nuclear weapon." 

The report found that the administration tried to convert $5.7 billion from U.S. banks to Iranian assets. It noted that the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control "encouraged two U.S. correspondent banks to convert the funds."

GOP SENATORS COULD BLOCK JACK LEW FROM ISRAEL AMBASSADORSHIP OVER CONTROVERSIAL PAST WITH IRAN

In January 2016, then-President Barack Obama announced a $400 million cash transfer to Iran that was part of a larger installment of a $1.7 billion settlement, for which Lew faced scrutiny. The settlement was part of a long-standing disagreement over an arms deal that was signed before the 1979 Iranian revolution, signifying the end of the nation's historical monarchy.

Lew — who also served during the Clinton administration as special assistant to the president’s office — faced scrutiny for the transfer. The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that the payment was conducted using a combination of Swiss and other foreign currencies, then transported to Iran on unidentified cargo planes.

Senators during the hearing cited these reports in their questioning this month.

REPUBLICANS GRILL BIDEN'S ISRAEL AMBASSADOR NOMINEE JACK LEW IN SENATE HEARING: 'WIN FOR IRAN'

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