Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced this week that the nomination of Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., as U.S. ambassador to Kuwait has been delayed. 

Ghalib has faced scrutiny for his anti-Israel history, including questioning reports of Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7 and supporting the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and for liking antisemitic comments on social media.

Shaheen told Agence France Press last month that Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the Foreign Relations Committee chairman, had agreed to postpone consideration of Ghalib as lawmakers gathered additional information about his background.

Asked about the delay by Jewish Insider, Shaheen said that “there were some questions” about Ghalib to which committee members are awaiting written answers. She said she did not recall the subject of the pending questions.

“SFRC has worked at a historic pace to move President Trump’s nominees through our committee,” Risch said in a statement to JI on the nomination. “That pace continues along with our commitment to thorough vetting, and this vetting sometimes means that certain nominations will take longer to process.”

The Hamtramck mayor said in a Facebook post on Sunday that Trump called him to emphasize that he continues to support Ghalib’s nomination but acknowledged that there have been objections.

“He renewed his unlimited support to me” for the nomination, Ghalib said, but “admitted during his call that attempts by some parties have hindered this appointment, and assured me that he will not accept to stand before my appointment for this task that I am honored to do to serve this great country, any obstacle, from any party.”

Ghalib, who was born in Yemen, made history in 2021 when he was elected as Hamtramck’s first Arab and Muslim mayor. As mayor, Ghalib, a Democrat, led Hamtramck to pass a measure to boycott and divest from Israel. He also has a history of liking antisemitic social media posts.

Ghalib made waves nationally last fall when he endorsed President Donald Trump’s 2024 bid in September and campaigned on the president’s behalf with Arab and Muslim voters who had grown frustrated with Democrats over the Biden administration’s handling of Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza and with Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Trump went on to nominate Ghalib as U.S. ambassador to Kuwait in late March of this year.

The White House did not respond to JI’s requests for comment on the status of Ghalib’s nomination, which the Anti-Defamation League called for Trump to withdraw in March.

“Ghalib routinely traffics in antisemitism, actively supports the antisemitic BDS movement, attempted to justify the 10/7 massacre and refused to take disciplinary action against an appointee who attempted to justify the Holocaust,” the ADL said in a post on X at the time.

Ghalib visited Washington for meetings with White House officials in late August, when senators were in their home states for a monthlong recess. Ghalib met during the trip with James Blair, the White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs. No senators posted anything about meetings with Ghalib during that time period or since then, and two Republicans who serve on the committee told JI that they had received no outreach about meeting with the nominee. 

Ghalib’s confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled.