Biden appoints anti-Israel, pro-Hamas man to key Middle East post

Joe Biden has selected Hady Amr to be Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel-Palestine. A more accurate title would be Deputy Assistant Secretary of State against Israel and for Palestine. . .and for Hamas.

Daniel Greenfield, at FrontPage Magazine, shows why. He points to the following dots that hardly need to be connected:

Item: In 2002, discussing his work as the national coordinator of the anti-Israel Middle East Justice Network, Amr wrote, “I was inspired by the Palestinian intifada.”

Item: “I have news for every Israeli,” Amr ranted in 2002, after Sheikh Salah Shahada, the head of Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was taken out by an Israeli air strike. Arabs “now have televisions, and they will never, never forget what the Israeli people, the Israeli military and Israeli democracy have done to Palestinian children. And there will be thousands who will seek to avenge these brutal murders of innocents.”

Item: In the same column, written less than a year after 9/11, Amr wrote, “we shouldn’t be shocked when our military assistance to Israel and our security council vetoes that keep on protecting Israel come back to haunt us”

Item: Amr has accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and he coordinated an organization that accused Israel of “apartheid.”

Item: Amr was the founding director of the Brookings Doha Center and led it between 2006 and 2010. A New York Times report noted that the institution had forbidden criticism of Qatar.

Qatar is a major state sponsor of the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. It has been accused by U.S. government officials of being utilized by Al Qaeda and the Taliban for fundraising purposes. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of September 11, operated out of Qatar. He fled after being warned by a member of the Qatari royal family that the Americans were on to him.

Item: Over the past few years, Amr has repeatedly urged negotiations with Hamas. When the Trump administration unveiled its proposed peace deal, Amr co-wrote an article declaring that it should be scrapped in favor of focusing on a deal with Hamas.

To Greenfield’s items, I would add this one: Amr sympathizes with Hezbollah and its murderous leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. In 2019, after Nasrallah threatened to launch attacks deep inside Israeli territory, Amr said this :

I think Nasrallah feels a great sense of frustration at Israel’s overwhelming strength and ability to violate Lebanese airspace at will.

So in Amr’s eyes, the head of the Iranian backed militia that dominates Lebanon through force, who supports terrorism not just against Israel but also against the U.S., is just a frustrated leader trying to protect Lebanon.

Not surprisingly, Amr had a minor Israel-related post in the Obama administration. Now, after acting as a Biden bundler in the last election, he will have a major job in the current one.

We should expect the hatred Amr has expressed towards Israel, his close ties with Qatar, and his sympathy for Hamas and even Hezbollah to drive his work. And, considering the importance of his new post, we should worry that Amr’s work will drive Biden administration Israel policy.

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