Jewish Insider: A closer look at Biden’s foreign policy team

By Jacob Kornbluh

Jewish Democratic Council of America executive director Halie Soifer, who worked at the State Department with Blinken, maintained that because the president-elect and his choice for secretary of state have worked together for so long, “when world leaders speak to the secretary, they will know that he has the ear of the president. And that’s very important.”…

For Jewish Democrats, JDCA’s Soifer suggested, Sullivan and Blinken share the same goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and will “immediately get to work to ensure that that does not happen, including trying to go back to a diplomatic resolution where Iran is in full compliance with its previous commitments.”…

Thomas-Greenfield, a 35-year veteran of the foreign service, served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs in Obama’s second term. She is currently a senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington.

Like former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, the next U.N. ambassador will serve at the Cabinet level, which requires Senate approval.

While her experience does not involve direct engagement with matters involving Israel and the Middle East, Soifer said she expects Thomas-Greenfield to be guided by Biden when it comes to defending the Jewish state at the U.N. Security Council.

“If you know where Joe Biden stands on Israel, you know where his nominee to the U.N. will stand on Israel,” Soifer explained, “because you know the calls on Security Council resolutions relating to Israel — but also just defending Israel in general — that policy will be set by the White House.”