The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday advanced the nomination of former Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel, at one of the most perilous moments in the Jewish state’s history.
The committee approved Lew by a mostly partisan vote of 12-9. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote in support of the nomination.
Lew’s work during the Obama administration in implementing the sanctions relief the U.S. agreed to provide to Iran as part of the multinational nuclear deal was the source of much of the GOP grievances against the longtime senior Democratic official.
