JTA — On the eve of a long-delayed Senate confirmation hearing for US President Donald Trump’s pick for antisemitism envoy, a group of House Democrats is urging senators to reject the nomination of Yehuda Kaploun, arguing that he lacks the judgment and moral authority the post requires.

In a letter obtained by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and sent Tuesday to Senator Jim Risch, the Idaho Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, its top Democrat, the lawmakers call Kaploun’s nomination “partisan and controversial” and say his “comments and actions demonstrate a clear unfitness for this post.”

A total of 18 House Democrats signed the letter, including several Jewish lawmakers such as Jerrold Nadler, Jamie Raskin, Jan Schakowsky, Becca Balint and Steve Cohen.

The intervention is atypical: House members almost never publicly oppose sub-cabinet nominees, a category generally considered routine Senate business.

The committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Kaploun’s nomination on Wednesday morning.

Trump tapped Kaploun in April to serve as the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, an ambassador-level role focused on antisemitism abroad. The Senate did not move for months to schedule a hearing, leaving the position vacant even as administration officials warned about a spike in antisemitism.

Kaploun, a Hasidic rabbi, Miami-based businessman and longtime political operative close to Trump, would be the first........

© The Times of Israel