Biden Admin Withdraws Appointment of Activist Who Called ‘Israel’ Apartheid

By Staff, Agencies

The US administration of Joe Biden has withdrawn its pick of a human rights activist for a post at the Organization of American States for labelling the ‘Israeli’ entity with apartheid and blasting a top House Democrat as being “Bought. Purchased. Controlled” by pro-‘Israel’ groups.

The US announced on Friday the candidacy of James Cavallaro to serve as an independent member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a watchdog monitoring the Americas, praising him as “leading scholar and practitioner of international law” with deep expertise in the region.

But on Tuesday the State Department said that his candidacy was pulled in the wake of an article by a New York-based Jewish publication, the Algemeiner, which revealed Cavallaro’s history of posts critical of the ‘Israeli’ occupation entity and the US support for the Tel Aviv regime.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that the Biden administration was unaware of Cavallaro’s past comments on ‘Israel’ prior to announcing his candidacy. “They are not a reflection of what we believe and they are inappropriate to say the least,” Price claimed.

Cavallaro, who served previously on the commission from 2014 to 2017, pushed back at the notion he was being insensitive. He said that his views on ‘Israel’ are entirely consistent with international human rights organizations and international bodies and in no way would impact his work advancing human rights in the Americas.

“It’s clear I hit a raw nerve,” he said in an interview Tuesday following a meeting with the State Department.

He also pointed out that elected commissioners serve in a personal capacity and are not supposed to represent the foreign policy views of the governments backing their candidacy. He said that he discussed with the State Department his active social media presence prior to his candidacy being announced, if not specific tweets, and committed to cleaning up his timeline and rigorously refraining from speaking out if elected to serve on the commission.

Cavallaro, a co-founder and executive director of the University Network for Human Rights who previously taught at Harvard, Stanford and Yale law schools, has also accused the Zionist regime of committing atrocities, according to the Algemeiner’s scan of Cavallaro’s now deleted social media activity.

Last month, another nominee to serve as assistant secretary of state for human rights withdrew her candidacy after facing strong Republican opposition due to her past statements on the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime.

Sarah Margon, who was first tapped for the post almost two years ago, had tweeted about supporting disinvestment from Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Last month Margon said she would withdraw her bid for the post since she saw no “path forward for confirmation” amid a year and a half of stonewalling.