President Trump plans to appoint L. Brent Bozell III, a conservative media critic and fierce defender of Israel, to be the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, in keeping with the Congressional web site.
Mr. Bozell had beforehand been nominated to guide the US’ international media company, however that nomination was withdrawn on Monday, the Congressional web site had stated.
Mr. Bozell’s title was one in all a number of submitted to the Senate on Tuesday for numerous ambassador posts, in keeping with two authorities officers, who requested anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly concerning the course of. The State Division declined to remark.
Mr. Bozell, who have to be confirmed by the Senate, can be moving into the position at a time when the connection between South Africa and the US is at its worst in latest reminiscence. The Trump administration just lately expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the US after he criticized Mr. Trump throughout a webinar.
The Trump administration has criticized the South African authorities over its shut relationship with Iran and for its harsh stance in opposition to Israel, together with bringing a genocide case on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice over the warfare in Gaza.
It was not instantly clear whether or not Mr. Bozell had ties to South Africa. He’s the founder and president of the Media Analysis Heart, a watchdog group that targets community tv hosts and mainstream media retailers with accusations of liberal bias. As soon as a critic of Mr. Trump, Mr. Bozell is now firmly in his nook. His son, Leo Brent Bozell IV, was one of many almost 1,600 folks convicted and sentenced within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, however was pardoned by Mr. Trump.
Mr. Bozell has been a vocal supporter of the Israeli authorities. After Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, Mr. Bozell posted a fund-raising enchantment for Israel on his middle’s web site, saying that he didn’t often make appeals for outdoor causes however was making an exception as a result of “that is an emergency.”
“Israel is combating for its very existence,” he wrote.
The Trump administration has additionally accused South Africa’s authorities of discriminating in opposition to the white minority inhabitants. Mr. Trump issued an government order final month that suspended all American help to South Africa and provided refugee standing to Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority that after led the apartheid authorities.
Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, has often posted messages on X disparaging the South African authorities, falsely claiming that there have been mass killings of white farmers. He has additionally claimed that his satellite tv for pc enterprise, Starlink, was not allowed to function in South Africa as a result of he isn’t Black. (The nation requires overseas firms to present possession shares to members of traditionally deprived teams.)
South African officers have been stunned by the assaults from Mr. Trump, Mr. Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying that they’re based mostly on misinformation.
