Biden reportedly close to picking Israel critic for press secretary
Douglas Braff
Last week, President-elect Joe Biden was reported to have a vocal critic of Israel as a top pick to be his press secretary, according to NBC News White House Correspondent Geoff Bennett.
On November 18, Bennett tweeted in a thread that multiple sources had told him and two of his NBC News colleagues that Karine Jean-Pierre, a longtime campaign adviser and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris's chief of staff, had emerged as a "top candidate" for the job. No final decision has been made yet about who will be appointed to the position. Additionally, with the report being a week old, it is not known if Jean-Pierre is still on Biden's shortlist for the role.
NEWS: Karine Jean-Pierre has emerged as a top candidate for Biden's WH press secretary, multiple sources tell @mikememoli, @kwelkernbc and me.
She would be the first Black woman in that role.
Symone Sanders has also been discussed and has recently focused on Harris' transition.
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) November 18, 2020
Jean-Pierre was also was senior adviser and national spokesperson for MoveOn.org, a progressive activist group with anti-Israel views, and is a vocal critic of Israel herself.
The Biden Campaign didn't respond to this reporter's request for comment.
In an opinion piece she wrote for Newsweek in March 2019, Jean-Pierre praised Democratic politicians for not going to that year's AIPAC conference, saying, "boldly choosing to prioritize diplomacy and human rights over the power of a lobbying organization."
In the same piece, she made other controversial accusations and statements about Israel and AIPAC, including accusing of Benjamin Netanyahu's government of committing war crimes, citing a United Nations commission report around the time of the article saying that Israeli soldiers likely committed war crimes against Gazan protesters.
Pro-Israel groups in Washington, DC have enjoyed a boon of policy success under President Trump's administration, who has succeeded in getting many historic enemies of Israel such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan to join Egypt and Jordan in recognizing and establishing normal diplomatic ties with the Jewish State.
During the campaign, Biden said that he would bring back the daily White House press briefings that Trump got rid of during his tenure in the Oval Office.
If appointed, Jean-Pierre would be the first Black woman to serve in the role, as well as another person who is a reported top contender, Symone Sanders.
This reporter reached out to the Biden transition team for immediate comment on if Jean-Pierre is still on the president-elect's shortlist but received no response.
You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.