Biden Nominee for Human Rights Post Withdraws

By Hamodia Staff

Senator James Risch (R-ID), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Capitol Hill in December, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

President Biden’s nominee to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for democracy, human rights and labor withdrew herself from contention after being delayed a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for one and a half years due to her controversial tweets concerning Israel, Politico reported.

Sarah Margon, is a former Capitol Hill staffer and Washington director for Human Rights Watch, who now works in a senior role at the Open Society Foundations funded in large part by George Soros, faced ongoing opposition from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s ranking Republican, Senator Jim Risch of Idaho.

“At present, I don’t see a path forward for confirmation, and after 1 ½ years, it’s time to move on,” Margon said in the statement. “I will continue to work on democracy and human rights, and am grateful to President Biden and Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken for their confidence in me and the honor of a nomination.”

“In a September 2021 hearing, Risch questioned her about her past tweets of November 2018 in which she supported a Airbnb boycott in West Bank settlements, writing “Thanks Airbnb for showing some good leadership here, other companies should follow suit.”

Although she offered a tepid excuse for the tweet, Risch told her, “With all due respect, ma’am, I don’t believe it. Saying it over and over again just doesn’t square with your actions.” He also questioned her about retweeting a New York Times opinion piece titled “I no longer believe in a Jewish state,” for which she excused herself by claiming, “Sometimes when we retweet or say things in the heat of the moment, we do not necessarily think of the broader impact of them.” Risch told her that he would not support her nomination.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) who chairs the committee he did not bring her up for a vote in the committee, despite personally supporting the nomination, due to the custom of “comity”, a custom which requires the top Democrat and top Republican on the committee to jointly agree on items such as scheduling votes on nominees.

The senior State Department official said that even if the assistant secretary role is not filled, the administration has others who routinely raise human rights with foreign counterparts.

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