USA: The Biden administration withdrew its choice of a human rights activist for a position at the Organization of American States after she attacked a top House Democrat for being "Bought. Purchased. Controlled" by pro-Israel organizations and called Israel a "apartheid state."

James Cavallaro, a "leading scholar and practitioner of international law" with extensive knowledge of the region, was announced by the US on Friday as a candidate to join the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as an independent member.

However, the State Department stated on Tuesday that Cavallaro's candidacy was withdrawn as a result of an article published by the Jewish newspaper the Algemeiner, based in New York, which exposed Cavallaro's history of posts critical of Israel and US support for the Jewish people.

Also Read: US detains four more suspects in assassination attempt against Haitian President Moise

Cavallaro claimed that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York, was working for pro-Israel lobbyists in a tweet from December 2022 that was later deleted as the Algemeiner article was being prepared for publication.

“Bought. Purchased. Controlled," wrote Cavallaro with a link to a report on Rep. Jeffries' contributions from AIPAC and other pro-Israel organizations.
The Biden administration was not aware of Cavallaro's prior remarks on Israel before he announced his candidacy, according to Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, who also noted that they don't reflect US policy and were "inappropriate."

Also Read:  Rising seas could cause an exodus on "biblical" proportions, Guterres warns.

Cavallaro, who served previously on the commission from 2014 to 2017, pushed back at the notion he was being insensitive. He said that his views on Israel are entirely consistent with international human rights organizations and international bodies and in no way would impact his work advancing human rights in the Americas.

“It’s clear I hit a raw nerve,” he said in an interview Tuesday following a meeting with the State Department. He also pointed out that elected commissioners serve in a personal capacity and are not supposed to represent the foreign policy views of the governments backing their candidacy. 

Before his candidacy was announced, he claimed to have discussed his active social media presence, if not specific tweets, with the State Department. He promised to thoroughly clean up his timeline and refrain from speaking out if elected to the commission.

Cavallaro's brief run for office is reminiscent of the controversy surrounding Harvard University's rejection of a fellowship offered to a different human rights activist for making similar criticisms of Israel. Kenneth Roth was chosen to be a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Roth previously served as HRW's executive director until last year. The offer was later withdrawn, according to Roth, because of HRW's protracted history of denouncing Israel for alleged war crimes committed against Palestinians.

Also Read:  Investigation into the UK's emergency response to the sinking migrant boat

The Algemeiner's examination of Cavallaro's now-deleted social media activity reveals that the co-founder and executive director of the University Network for Human Rights, who previously taught at Harvard, Stanford, and Yale law schools, has also charged Israel with committing "atrocities."
The OAS's 34 member states were scheduled to vote on his nomination to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at a meeting this summer.