The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s most significant Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, promptly addressed Trump’s decisions on Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, and Elise Stefanik.
“I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” announced the president-elect in a statement, per the New York Post, on Sunday.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), known for ousting two Ivy League presidents with her intense questioning on college campus antisemitism, joins a long line of Trump allies appointed to his cabinet.
Trump commended her sharp line of questioning during the hearings, which addressed antisemitism amid campus protests against Israel’s war on Gaza following the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
CAIR’s National Deputy Director, Edward Ahmed Mitchell, disagrees with Stefanik’s nomination “given her hostility towards free speech and human rights” and advised Trump to “appoint foreign policy officials who will respect international law and put American interests over the interests of any foreign country.”
Mitchell “welcomed” Trump’s decision to prohibit Nikki Haley, Trump’s former UN Ambassador, and Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State, from joining his second administration, citing that the decision to “turn away war hawks” is a “promising step in the right decision.”
He continues by criticizing the US’s relationship with Israel’s “out-of-control government,” stating PM Benjamin Netanyahu wants to “bait our nation into a war with Iran and waste more American taxpayer dollars on its genocidal war.”
In a statement to Newsweek, Stefanik sees “antisemitism skyrocketing” and that the Biden presidency has “significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries.” She expressed her readiness to “advance President Donald J. Trump’s restoration of America First peace through strength leadership on the world stage on Day One at the United Nations.”
According to CBS News, the prime minister said on Sunday that he had spoken with Trump three times in recent days, stating that the conversations were “designed to tighten the strong alliance between Israel and the USA” and that he and Trump see “eye-to-eye.”
Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, has since met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss Israel’s plans for Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran for the upcoming two months, reported Axios on Monday.
Trump’s succession follows the loss of former Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s election after strenuous tension with Arab American and Muslim communities concerning Biden’s Israel foreign policy.
“Although we disagree with the nomination of Rep. Stefanik as U.N. ambassador, given her hostility toward free speech and human rights, we will at least be spared the pretenses and hypocrisies of President Biden’s United Nations team, which used the international body to champion the human rights of Ukrainians while trampling on the human rights of Palestinians,” said Mitchell.
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