Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) released the following statement on his support for Jack Lew to be U.S. Ambassador to the State of Israel.

“I have known Jack Lew to be an honest and straightforward person throughout his many years in public service, and we have remained friends through those years despite our differing views on the Iran Deal in 2015. After speaking with him multiple times and given his nomination for the position of Ambassador to Israel, our closest ally in the Middle East, Jack has agreed to support pushing to enforce and strengthen sanctions and other points of leverage including snapback against Iran for its support of terrorism and other destabilizing activities. For decades Iran has engaged in destabilizing terrorism financing that directly enabled the attack against Israel on October 7th. As we see daily the ramifications of that attack, we should all remember that Hamas is a terrorist organization that uses innocent Palestinians in Gaza to shield themselves and their weapons, while Israel uses their weapons to protect their people. I look forward to supporting Jack’s nomination for Ambassador to Israel, and it’s essential that the Senate act on his nomination quickly so he can go to Israel and get to work immediately.”