US reverses human rights expert pick over past tweets critical of Israel

US President Joe Biden's administration has recently reversed its choice to nominate a human rights expert for a position over his past statements critical of Israel.

The US administration announced last week that James Cavallaro, who has referred to Israel as an apartheid state, was picked to serve as an independent member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which monitors North and South America.

Days later, the State Department said that his candidacy had been revoked following an article in the US Jewish journal Algemeiner, which published several statements he had made critical of Israel. It said that in at least one case, a statement could be considered anti-Semitic.

In one instance, he tweeted, "Bought. Purchased. Controlled", along with a link to an article about money raised for Representative Hakeem Jeffries by AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups.

In other tweets, Cavallaro described Israel as an "apartheid state", and said the US and Israel had committed "atrocities". 

After he was contacted by Algemeiner about his past statements on social media, he started deleting them but the publication had already taken screenshots of them.

The State Department had praised Cavallaro, who has previously taught at Harvard, Stanford and Yale, as a "leading scholar and practitioner of international law" with deep expertise.

The reversal of his nomination is one of several recent high-profile cases of someone losing an opportunity due to past statements on Israel.

Another recent case was that of Sarah Margon, who withdrew her nomination for a human rights position with the State Department following revelations of past critical remarks on Israel.