Trump chooses pro-Israel Rep. Stefanik as ambassador to United Nations

WASHINGTON —  President-elect Donald Trump has chosen acolyte Elise Stefanik, a 10-year congresswoman from New York, to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations.

Stefanik is known for strong pro-Israel positions as well as criticism of the institution where she will serve, the United Nations.

She entered the House in 2014 as a moderate Republican and became an ardent Trump supporter and one of his most vocal defenders during his first of two impeachment trials.

“Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement Monday announcing his pick.

Like many conservatives, Trump has long had animus toward the U.N., because of its multilateral approach, inaction on major issues and frequent anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rhetoric.

Stefanik recently declared herself one of Trump’s leading “advocates and partners” in supporting the Israeli cause for “security and independence.”

On Monday, she lashed out at Palestinian leaders for “lining the pockets of terrorists who kill Israelis.”

The United States is routinely a staunch and sometimes isolated supporter of Israel in the U.N.

In recent weeks, however, the Biden administration’s ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, was more critical of Israel for its failure to allow more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Israel has been battling Palestinian Hamas militants for the last 13 months. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, and survivors face starvation.

With Stefanik, it is likely U.S. positions in the U.N. will return to unqualified support for Israel.

What is unclear now is whether Trump will want the U.N. to take a robust leadership role in world crises, with the U.S. an active partner, or withdraw from the strategy of alliances and multi-lateral action.

“Today, with geopolitical tensions on the rise and human rights on the back foot, we face an urgent need to turn challenges and risks into progress and possibility — from artificial intelligence to climate change,” the United Nations Foundation, an outside organization that supports the U.N., said in a statement. “The Trump-Vance administration has a unique opportunity to affirm America’s commitment to working with allies and partners the world over, including through the United Nations.”

Stefanik, 40, was the youngest woman elected to Congress in 2014 when she won in a district that had been predominantly Democratic. In 2021, Stefanik was elected within the Republican congressional caucus to a leadership position from which Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming was ousted because of her criticism of Trump for his lies about having won the 2020 election.

She was seen as a possible vice presidential choice for Trump before he chose JD Vance.

The role of U.S. ambassador to the U.N. often goes to women. Trump’s envoy in his first term was former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. But he has said she will not be invited to join the next Cabinet, probably because she challenged him in the GOP primary and was critical of his age and what she said were old-fashioned policies.

A graduate of Harvard, Stefanik worked for former President George W. Bush before running for Congress.

She got Trump’s attention when, in a congressional hearing last spring, she aggressively grilled several university presidents over the supposed presence of organized antisemitism on their campuses. It led to the resignation of some of those presidents and won Trump’s praise.