The United States Senate has decided not to approve Biden administration’s nominee to serve as the US ambassador to Brazil, as the nominee Elizabeth Frawley Bagley had made offensive remarks about the “Jewish lobby”.
Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, a longtime diplomat and Democratic Party insider, was shot down by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a party-line vote of 11-11. While Bagley was initially expected to clear the committee and move on to a full Senate confirmation vote.
Earlier the Washington Free Beacon in a report had exposed Bagley for her vile comments against Jews, which had angered GOP members of the Senate committee.
Senate sources told Free Beacon, “”The Biden admin knew that Democrats would fall into line, but once Republicans read the things she had said, no one was going to vote for her”.
Elizabeth Frawley Bagley’s comments about Jewish money in politics were widely condemned as antisemitic and raised concerns among members of both parties.
Capitol sources said, Bagley’s nomination is now in limbo, with Democrats no longer having the Republican support needed to push her through to a full vote in the Senate.
Sen. James Risch (R., Idaho), the committee’s ranking member, said in a statement” “Brazil is an extremely important ally to the United States in South America and in the Western Hemisphere, and we share common values and ideals—especially with regard to respect of religious freedoms and democratic ideals. Unfortunately, Ms. Bagley’s statements in a 1998 interview insinuating that Jewish and Cuban Americans’ motivations and voting practices are based on ‘major money’ and ‘radical’ opposition to the Castro regime fly in the face of those shared values. For this reason, I could not support her nomination”.
According to Free Beacon, Bagley in a 1998 interview lamented “the influence of the Jewish lobby because there is major money involved”. She claimed that “the Democrats always tend to go with the Jewish constituency on Israel and say stupid things, like moving the capital to Jerusalem always comes up”. Support for Israel-related issues are mainly due to “the Jewish factor, it’s money”, Bagley said. The interview was conducted by a historian at the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training for an oral history project.
“There is always the influence of the Jewish lobby because there is major money involved”, Bagley said in the interview.
She even went further saying that American Jews and pro-Israel advocates nefariously manipulate politicians into supporting the Jewish state have long been considered anti-Semitism.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a watchdog group that combats anti-Semitism, called on Joe Biden to withdraw Bagley’s nomination over her comments.
Bagley “must remove herself from consideration to represent the American people in Brazil. If she doesn’t, the president or secretary of state should”, the organization tweeted.
When questioned about these remarks during a May 18 confirmation hearing with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bagley said they were the result of a “free-flowing discussion” with the interviewer.
“I regret that you would think that it was a problem”, Bagley said at the time in her defense. “I certainly didn’t mean anything by it. It was a poor choice of words, but it was something that the interviewer had asked me, prompted by something about politics”.
Even some Democrats during the hearing expressed concern about Bagley’s rhetoric. Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.) said: “The language you used in regard to the Jewish community, Israel’s influence on our election, and Jewish money have me concerned”. The choice of words … fit into the traditional tropes of anti-Semitism”.
Joe Biden stood behind Elizabeth Frawley Bagley
Despite her record of antisemitic statements and objections raised by Jewish groups as well as the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Joe Biden was unwilling to replace Bagley with any other candidate. Instead he tried to influence some of the members of the US Senate to get Bagley’s appointment approved.
