On March 10, Jeremy Carl withdrew his nomination for a high-level State Department position that wields considerable influence at the United Nations and other international bodies. That is welcome news. We truly appreciate the critical role Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, played in bringing about that outcome.
President Donald Trump had nominated Carl to lead the State Department’s Office of International Organizations, which helps shape U.S. policy at the United Nations and other global institutions on issues including human rights, refugees and global health. Given his long and well-documented record of bigoted views, Carl was plainly unfit for such a position.
We thank Curtis for directly confronting Carl about his antisemitic writings and remarks during a Feb. 12 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. While we do not always agree with Curtis on every issue, we appreciate his willingness to listen to our concerns and to recognize what was at stake.
As a former member of the Utah Legislature and as a rabbi, respectively, we believe deeply in the dignity of every human being. We also believe in the principles expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Adopted by the United Nations in 1948, it affirms that human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent — ideas that remain foundational to modern human rights laws in the U.S. and around the world.
There is still much work to do to reaffirm the United States’ legacy of protecting the most vulnerable from human rights abuses. History has taught that when the rights of one person are violated, the rights of all are at risk. We commend Curtis for recognizing that truth and for helping remove a serious obstacle to that effort.
Patrice Arent, former Utah state legislator and former co-president of the National Association of Jewish Legislators
Rabbi Elizabeth Richman, associate director for Jewish engagement and advocacy at American Jewish World Service