Trump Nominates Rep. Elise Stefanik as Ambassador to UN

Stefanik is a staunch Israel supporter and led the charge smearing college protesters as 'antisemitic'

President-elect Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that he has nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to be his ambassador to the United Nations, a pick that is a victory for the hawks.

Stefanik is a staunch Israel supporter and Iran hawk who has said there should be no conditions on US military aid to Israel. “There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel,” Stefanik told the Israeli Knesset earlier this year in a speech where she bashed President Biden for delaying a single shipment of 2,000-pound bombs.

Stefanik led the charge against college students protesting against US support for Israel, smearing them as “antisemitic” for opposing Israel’s onslaught in Gaza even though many demonstrators were Jewish themselves.

“I led the charge to expose this moral rot of antisemitism infecting our supposed most elite higher education institutions,” Stefanik told the Israeli Knesset.

Placing Stefanik at the UN is a clear sign that the Trump administration will continue Biden’s policy of covering for Israel at the UN. Stefanik has previously accused the UN of being “antisemitic,” a claim constantly made by Israeli officials.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, celebrated Stefanik’s nomination. “At a time when hate and lies fill the halls of the UN, your unwavering moral clarity is needed more than ever. Wishing you success in standing firm for truth and justice,” he said.

Stefanik was first elected to Congress in 2014. Before that, she worked for hawkish think tanks, including the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Foreign Policy Initiative, which was founded by neoconservatives Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.