XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics
XPost: alt.politics.democrats

A group of Democratic consultants, think-tankers, and activists is
soliciting signatures for a letter to the U.S. Senate defending President
Joe Biden's embattled USAID nominee Tamara Cofman Wittes and arguing that
she is a strong supporter of the Abraham Accords — a peace treaty between Israel and the United Arab Emirates that she previously belittled.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), an activist group that
bills itself as pro-Israel, is circulating the letter, which was obtained
by the Washington Free Beacon and is expected to be submitted next week to
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Jewish group has a spotty
track record on calling out anti-Israel members of its own party and once endorsed a candidate who claimed the Jewish state was not a democracy.

"We write today to convey our strong support for Dr. Tamara Cofman
Wittes's nomination to serve as assistant administrator for the Middle
East at the United States Agency for International Development," said the group.

The letter is a signal Democrats are concerned that Wittes's stance on the Abraham Accords—Israel's diplomatic agreement with the United Arab Emirates—could hurt her chances of confirmation. Some of the Democrats who signed on to the letter are the same ones who stepped up to save Biden
Pentagon nominee Colin Kahl after Republicans expressed concerns about
Kahl's involvement in crafting the Iran Nuclear Deal and his incendiary partisan Twitter posts.

Wittes in 2020 promoted articles denouncing the Abraham Accords on social
media and cautioned other Arab countries against signing similar
agreements, the Washington Free Beacon first reported last month.

But she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that she supports the accords, a position that prompted skepticism from Republicans.

"I get that that's the right political answer to say now. But it's not
what you said then," said Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) during a hearing.

The letter defending Wittes was also signed by Dan Shapiro, a former Obama administration official and executive at the Biden-linked foreign
consulting firm WestExec. The company, which helped U.S. universities
dodge Pentagon restrictions while soliciting donations from China, is
owned by Teneo, a foreign lobbying firm that has an office in Doha, the
capital of Qatar.

The letter was also signed by Jenna Ben-Yehuda, the president and CEO of
the Truman National Security Project, a think tank closely aligned with
the Democratic Party whose board once included Hunter Biden. Another
signer is Halie Soifer, the CEO of the JDCA and a former adviser to Kamala Harris.

Shapiro and Soifer also helped organize a letter defending Kahl during his rocky confirmation hearings in 2021. Republicans expressed deep concerns
about Kahl's role in crafting the Obama administration's Iran deal, as
well as his partisan Twitter posts that went after Republicans.

Kahl was narrowly confirmed by a party-line vote in April 2021, four
months before the Biden administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Published under: Abraham Accords, Biden Administration, Israel, USAID

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/these-dem-activists-want-to- save-bidens-usaid-nominee-who-criticized-israel-peace-accords/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)