Biden names Tom Nides, a former top Obama State Department official, as ambassador to Israel

Tom Nides was previously the United States Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources from 2011 to 2013. Photo by Getty Images
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden nominated Tom Nides, a deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration, to be his ambassador to Israel.
Nides, a banker, was the deputy secretary of state for management and resources from 2011 to 2013 and had good relations with Israeli diplomats, although he was less involved in substantive diplomacy.
Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to Washington, in his book “Ally” chronicling his ambassadorship, described Nides as “irreverent, hard-working, highly intelligent, and warm.” Oren said Nides quickly earned his “affection and trust.”
Nides, who is Jewish, is a Minnesota native who has been close to Joe Lieberman since running his vice presidential campaign in 2000. Lieberman, then a Connecticut senator, was Al Gore’s running mate and the first Jewish candidate on a major party presidential ticket.
Some in the centrist and liberal pro-Israel communities had pushed to have Biden tap Robert Wexler, a former Florida congressman who now heads a nongovernmental group advocating for Israeli-Arab peace, to the post.
The post Biden names Tom Nides, a former top Obama State Department official, as ambassador to Israel appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.