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. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) championed a U.S. defense agreement with Lebanon during a bipartisan congressional delegation to Beirut on Tuesday, saying it would be the “biggest change in the history of Lebanon.”

Speaking at a press conference alongside Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), Graham asked, “How many nations have a defense agreement with the United States? Very few. … The number of nations that America is willing to go to war for is very few. Why do I mention Lebanon being in that group? You have one thing going for you that is very valuable to me: religious diversity.”

“Christianity is under siege in the Mideast. Christians are being slaughtered and run out of all over, all over the region, except here. And so what I am going to tell my colleagues is, ‘Why don’t we invest in defending religious diversity in the Mideast? Why don’t we have a relationship with Lebanon where we would actually defend what you’re doing?’” he continued. 

“I think it’s in America’s interest to defend religious diversity, whether you’re Druze or Alawite or a Christian or whatever. The idea that America may one day have a defense agreement with Lebanon changes Lebanon unlike any single thing I could think of,” Graham said.

During their visit, the delegation, joined by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, diplomat Morgan Ortagus and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson, met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and head of the Lebanese Armed Forces Gen. Rodolph Haykal.

During the press conference, the lawmakers conveyed their encouragement over the progress that Lebanon has made in military, financial and democratic reforms and their hope that the government would be able to execute the changes fully. 

“We all see Lebanon is at a point of change. We’re here to tell you that we’re buying into that change, that we support what you’re trying to do. That if you do make an effort to disarm Hezbollah, we’ll be there trying to help. We’ll try to help your military, we’ll try to help your economy. We think that’s the right thing for you to do, and it benefits the entire region,” Graham said.

“If you’re able to pull this off, Saudi Arabia will look at you differently. If you’re able to pull it off, Israel will look at you differently. If you’re able to pull this off, there’ll be a groundswell of support in Washington to help your economy and to help your military,” he continued.

“Congress is looking at Lebanon differently because you’re behaving differently. If you continue to go down this road, I think you have a wonderful opportunity to secure your nation, economically, militarily, like anything I’ve seen since I’ve been coming to the region with [the late Sen.] John McCain (R-AZ). It all depends on what happens with the Hezbollah file and the Palestinian file.”

Wilson compared recent changes in Lebanon and in Syria with the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. “There’s such an opportunity for stability, security, for economic prosperity, for everyone,” he said.

Graham also emphasized the potential for improved relations between Israel and Lebanon if Hezbollah was contained. “If I were the Israeli prime minister, I would be looking at Lebanon differently after Hezbollah was disarmed by the Lebanese people,” he said.

Pressed by reporters on what steps Israel is taking to disarm Hezbollah and de-escalate conflict, Graham answered, “Why do you need Israel to tell you to disarm Hezbollah? That’s not Israel’s decision. That’s yours. Whether [the IDF] withdraw[s from southern Lebanon] or not, it depends on what you do. So don’t tell me anymore, ‘We’re not going to disarm Hezbollah until Israel does something.’ If that’s the model, you’re going to fail.” 

“The reason you disarm Hezbollah is because it’s best for you. This country is going backward, not forward, if you don’t follow through with disarming the Palestinians and Hezbollah and making the Lebanese army the central repository of arms for the nation. If you don’t do that, you’re going nowhere,” the South Carolina senator said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement yesterday that he “acknowledges the significant step taken by the Lebanese Government” and that “in light of this important development, Israel stands ready to support Lebanon in its efforts to disarm Hezbollah and to work together towards a more secure and stable future for both nations.”

Netanyahu pledged that if the Lebanese Armed Forces “take the necessary steps to implement the disarmament of Hezbollah, Israel will engage in reciprocal measures.”

Shaheen and Graham, both of whom serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee, also spoke about their support for supplying U.S. funding for the LAF and Lebanon’s financial recovery.

Shaheen called the steps Lebanon’s government has pledged to make in military and banking reforms “critical” and said the lawmakers will “continue to press for support, through legislation and through the appropriations process, support for the avenue that Lebanon has chosen for your future.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, voted with nearly all committee Republicans to advance former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to move to the consideration of the full Senate.

Waltz’s nomination had otherwise been blocked due to concerns from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that had left the committee vote deadlocked as of Wednesday, which would prevent the nomination from moving forward. 

Shaheen said in a statement that she maintains disagreements and concerns with Waltz, alluding to his involvement in the discussion of military plans on the unsecured messaging app Signal, but described him as a more positive voice for continued U.S. global engagement than other figures in the administration and potential alternatives.

“I recognize that Mr. Waltz represents a moderating force with a distinguished record of military service and an extensive background in national security policymaking,” Shaheen said in a statement. “Further, Mike Waltz did not represent himself to me as someone who wants to retreat from the world—and this is a quality I value in nominees.”

“Simply put, in a Situation Room filled with people like Vice President [J.D.] Vance and Under Secretary [of Defense Elbridge] Colby, who want to retreat from the world, and like Secretary [of Defense Pete] Hegseth, I think we’re better off having someone like Mike Waltz present,” Shaheen continued. “That is particularly true when you consider the alternatives to Mr. Waltz as a nominee.”

Vance and Colby are seen as leading isolationist voices in the administration, and Democrats generally view Hegseth as unqualified for his role.

“As Mr. Waltz knows, I intend to hold him accountable through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s oversight role in the months and years ahead,” Shaheen said.

Shaheen, in her statement, also said she “welcome[s] the Administration’s commitment to distribute $75 million of lifesaving assistance” — funding for Haiti and Nigeria which multiple reports have indicated was effectively a condition of her support for Waltz’s nomination.

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the top Republican on the committee, told Jewish Insider that the aid package was not directly tied to Shaheen’s support for Waltz.

“It’s accurate that we had lengthy discussions [about the aid funding] but there’s no quid-pro-quo,” Risch said. “You have discussions on a lot of issues. When something gets hung up like that, everybody airs issues that they have, and that’s how it got there.”

Asked by JI whether the humanitarian aid was a condition of her vote, Shaheen responded, “I appreciated the negotiations.”