But Mr. Malley, the son of a Jewish-Arab left, is a noted advocate for his dealings with groups and governments – including Hamas, Hezbollah and President Bashar al-Assad of Syria – widely regarded as enemies of the United States over the years. States. States and Israel and, by some, morally prohibited from contact. According to his critics, he is overly suspicious of US power and too sympathetic to foreign actors, including Iran and the Palestinians, who have deep disputes with the West.
These critics fear that Mr. Biden’s advocate for Iran is responsible for curbing its expanding nuclear program, and that he will push for a new deal with Tehran that will give too much to its administrative rulers in the name of reconciliation. When the report of his nomination first appeared in the news media, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton said, convicted “radicals like Malley” which, he said, “has a long track record of sympathy for the Iranian regime” and “hostility to Israel”.
Other opponents of negotiations with Iran expressed concerns in more moderate terms. “The appointment of Rob Malley may be a clear indication that the Biden administration is prioritizing a return to the JCPOA over a policy of deploying US power to get a more compressive and permanent deal,” said Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Defense of Democracies Foundation, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which he has long opposed. Malley does not believe in American power, he added.
Defenders of Mr Malley, whose position does not require confirmation by the Senate, say he has become a convenient target for an opening salvo from the US and Israeli right, intended to warn the Biden administration against trying too hard to cooperate with Tehran. working on a new nuclear deal. like the 2015 deal that became one of the most bitter foreign policy battles of the Obama years.
“Most of the judgments about Rob come from people who don’t know him, who choose to believe that he has no idea of American national interests, and that it is all about finding a way to reconcile ourselves with our enemies at all costs. , said Aaron David Miller, a multi-presidential peace negotiator in the Middle East who has worked with and is close to Mr. Malley.