Robert Malley, Biden's likely choice as Iran envoy, addresses J Street Conference on U.S.-Israel Relations and Middle East, Feb. 27, 2017. (CSPAN/Screenshot)
Malley’s background is troubling and has a history of criticizing Israel.
By David Isaac, World Israel News
Robert Malley is rumored to be in line for a position on Biden’s team as special envoy on Iran, the Jewish Insider reports on Jan. 20, a source of concern for Israel supporters.
President Joe Biden has made no secret of his desire to return to the 2015 Iran deal, an agreement bitterly opposed by Israel and described by former President Donald Trump as “the worst deal ever” and one which paved the way for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. Trump exited the deal in 2018.
Former State Department official Aaron David Miller told Jewish Insider that appointing Malley would be a “smart move,” saying he understands the issues surrounding the agreement and has a close relationship with incoming Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor-designate Jake Sullivan.
However, Malley’s background is troubling to others, who point to his history of criticizing Israel.
Ronald Radosh, adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute, who provided some background on Malley in 2015, recalled that Malley was removed from Obama’s 2008 election committee after “protests from the Jewish community about his private meetings with Hamas.”
Radosh writes, “In articles primarily appearing in The New York Review of Books, he regularly focused on Israel’s supposed sins and responsibility for lack of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. A profile of him in Discover the Networks has links to his articles, many of which were co-authored with Hussein Agha, a former advisor to Yasser Arafat.”
Jeff Dunetz, founder of The Lid Blog, says “For those who are unfamiliar with Mr. Malley, he is a second-generation Israel hater. I do not believe the father’s sins are visited on the son, but this son has chosen to follow in his dad’s footsteps.”
“Malley’s parents were rabidly anti-Israel and counted Yasir Arafat as a personal friend. Indeed, Arafat was among those ‘leaders’ (for want of a better word) who had intervened with the French government to readmit the Malley family to France after being expelled for their radical activities,” Dunetz writes.
As President Clinton’s special assistant for Arab-Israeli Affairs, Malley appears to be the only one who blamed Israel for the failure of the 2000 Camp David peace talks.
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Approximately 250 IDF soldiers are currently participating in the program.