The US Administration of Joe Biden withdrew the candidacy of a leading rights activist Tuesday due to his criticism of Israel, just days after nominating him to serve on a leading human rights panel, the Anadolu News Agency reported.

When it nominated James Cavallaro to serve on the Organization of American States commission from 2024-2027, the State Department hailed the activist as a “leading scholar and practitioner of international law with deep expertise in the region as well as the Inter-American human rights system.”

However, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the decision to withdraw Cavallaro’s nomination to serve as the commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was made over his “inappropriate” past statements.

“His statements clearly do not reflect US policy. They are not a reflection of what we believe. And they are inappropriate, to say the least,” Price told reporters.

Cavallaro, who has a long track record working in human rights, was informed of the decision during a meeting at the US State Department on Tuesday morning. He said the decision was “due to my statements denouncing apartheid in Israel/Palestine.”

“Today, the State Dept informed me that they were withdrawing my candidacy because of my view that the conditions in Israel/Palestine meet the definition of apartheid under international human rights law,” he wrote on Twitter.

(Anadolu, PC)