Washington, DC – Palestinian rights advocates in the United States are denouncing the selection of Republican Congressman Brian Mast to lead the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mast, a pro-Israel hawk known for his incendiary remarks about Palestinians, was nominated on Monday by fellow Republicans to be the chair of the influential panel in the incoming Congress, sparking outrage.

On Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) highlighted Mast’s history of anti-Palestinian statements, including his vilification of civilians and his call for destroying infrastructure in Gaza.

“Brian Mast might be the perfect person to serve as a spokesperson for the war criminals of the Israeli government, but he has no business running congressional hearings on sensitive international issues that impact our nation’s security,” CAIR government affairs director Robert McCaw said in a statement.

Mast hit back at CAIR on Wednesday. “I’d be more concerned if they were supporting me. Pace yourselves and buckle up,” he wrote in a social media post.

To assume leadership of the committee, the Florida Republican still needs to be elected by the full House, where his party holds a thin majority when the new chamber takes office early in January.

If successful, Mast — who wore an Israeli army uniform to the US Capitol last year — will preside over the panel that oversees legislation related to foreign policy.

Mast, a US army veteran who lost his legs in an attack in Afghanistan, has previously served as a civilian volunteer in the Israeli military.

Comparing Palestinians to Nazis

Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October last year, Mast has publicly defended Israel’s right to use any means necessary to attack the Palestinian enclave.

Last year, for example, Mast said humanitarian aid to Gaza “should be slowed down”, despite a suffocating Israeli siege that has caused deadly starvation in the enclave.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in November for suspected war crimes, including the use of hunger as a weapon of war.

Mast has also suggested that all Palestinians in Gaza are legitimate targets for Israeli violence and starvation.

“I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ during World War II. It is not a far stretch to say there are very few innocent Palestinian civilians,” the US congressman said last year.

The remarks prompted Democratic Congresswoman Sara Jacobs to lead an unsuccessful push to formally rebuke Mast in the House.

“Brian Mast’s comments are incredibly dangerous and dehumanizing as we continue to push for humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in harm’s way in Gaza and as Islamophobic hate crimes rise,” Jacobs said in a statement at that time.

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the antiwar group Code Pink, described Mast as the “most cruel, heartless member of Congress”.

“His total disregard for Palestinian civilians fans the flames of violence. His position as chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee bodes ill for a foreign policy that strives to protect human life and promote peace,” she told Al Jazeera.

Benjamin and other activists confronted Mast on Capitol Hill about his views earlier this year. When asked whether he has seen pictures of Palestinian children killed by Israel, the Republican legislator responded: “These are not innocent Palestinian civilians.”

Israel has killed at least 44,800 Palestinians, including more than 17,000 children, in Gaza since the start of the war, according to local health authorities.

United Nations experts and rights groups have described the Israeli campaign as a genocide: an effort to destroy the Palestinian people in whole or in part.

‘Absurdity and fanaticism’

Mast rejects any criticism against Israel by international groups and the UN. He has also called for disbanding the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

Yasmine Taeb, the legislative and political director at MPower Change, a Muslim American civic engagement group, highlighted Mast’s history of “inflammatory and dehumanizing remarks”.

“Mast’s election as the next Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee just shows the utter absurdity and fanaticism we should expect from the House GOP next year,” Taeb told Al Jazeera in a statement.

When asked for comment about the criticism, Mast’s office referred Al Jazeera to the congressman’s response to CAIR on social media.

Critics fear Mast’s nomination is likely part of a larger trend towards unquestioning support for Israel’s war.

While Democratic President Joe Biden has already provided billions of dollars in unconditional support to Israel, the incoming administration of Republican President Donald Trump is set to be dominated by even more staunchly pro-Israel officials.

So Mast may be able to push foreign policy measures in coordination with allies at the White House. Republicans will also have a majority in the Senate.

Hassan el-Tayyab, an advocacy organiser at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker social justice group, called Mast one of the “most ferociously anti-Palestinian voices” in Congress.

“His position, unfortunately, reflects a broader sentiment among Congress members, especially among Republicans, who continue to supply unconditional weapons and military support to Israel, despite the Netanyahu government violating US laws and policies through its indiscriminate campaign in Gaza and beyond,” el-Tayyab told Al Jazeera.

Netanyahu’s office welcomed Mast’s nomination earlier this week, hailing the congressman as a “great American patriot and a true friend of Israel”.

Christopher Wray, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), says he will resign from his post before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month.

Wray announced his impending departure at an internal FBI meeting on Wednesday, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

President-elect Donald Trump has publicly signalled his desire to replace Wray with Kash Patel, a long-time loyalist who has called for “dramatically” limiting the FBI’s authority.

Wray, who was nominated by Trump in 2017 to serve a 10-year term, has faced criticism during his tenure from Republicans due to the FBI’s investigations into Trump after he left office.

Speaking at the FBI meeting on Wednesday, Wray said: “After weeks of careful thought, I’ve decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January and then step down.”

“My goal is to keep the focus on our mission – the indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people everyday,” he told his colleagues.

“In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work,” Wray said.

He also addressed the FBI’s mission in his remarks, saying that the bureau’s goal to “keep Americans safe and uphold the constitution” will not change.

Trump appointed Wray to lead the FBI after firing his predecessor James Comey following the FBI’s investigations into alleged contacts between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.

But in recent years, Wray has fallen out of favour with the president-elect after the FBI assisted with a federal probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents, a case that has since been dropped.

Trump had repeatedly denied wrongdoing in that case and claimed the investigation was politically motivated.

Following his election to a second term, Trump said his pick for FBI director would be Patel – a former aide who has been a steadfast supporter of the incoming Republican president.

On Wednesday, Patel said he is “looking forward to a smooth transition and I’ll be ready on day one.”

Meanwhile, Trump said Wray’s resignation is “a great day for America”.

“It will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Patel requires approval by the Senate before he can be appointed.

He has fiercely criticised the FBI. In his memoir, Government Gangsters, Patel called for an eradication of what he called “government tyranny” within the FBI by firing “the top ranks”.

Some Republican lawmakers have welcomed Patel’s nomination.

“There are serious problems at the FBI,” Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee has said.

“The American public knows it. They expect to see sweeping change, and Kash Patel is just the type of person to do it.”

Month-long search for Ryan Borgwardt after faked death in Wisconsin cost $35,000, law enforcement officials say.

A man in the United States who faked his drowning before fleeing to Eastern Europe has returned home and is set to face charges, according to authorities.

Ryan Borgwardt voluntarily returned to the US following the bizarre incident, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll told reporters on Wednesday, capping a months-long ordeal that began with his disappearance in August of this year.

“We can stand here feeling relieved,” Podoll said.

He added Borgwardt had voluntarily returned home, likely motivated by his family, but provided few further details of what Borgwardt had done during his time in Europe or even what country he had been residing in.

While Borgwardt had not been facing any criminal charges prior to his disappearance, he will likely be charged with “obstruction” of the law enforcement search to find him, Podoll said.

It was not immediately clear what other charges he would face.

Borgwardt had last been seen in his home state of Wisconsin in August. He had been travelling to the city of Green Lake to go kayaking.

His vehicle and trailer were later found near the lake, which is about 200 feet (61 metres) deep. His kayak was found in the water and his fishing rod was later recovered.

The search for his body stretched for more than 50 days, with divers repeatedly searching the city’s deep lake. The effort cost at least $35,000.

Several clues led investigators to believe Borgwardt had fled the country, possibly to meet a woman in Uzbekistan that he had met online.

Investigators eventually made contact with him in early November, but struggled to coax him to return to the US.

Before landing in the US on Tuesday, Borgwardt had told investigators he fled the country due to “personal matters”.

He recounted that he had overturned his kayak on the lake and ditched his phone before paddling an inflatable boat to shore.

He said he chose Green Lake because it is Wisconsin’s deepest.

He then rode an electric bike to Madison, travelling by bus to Detroit and then Canada, where he boarded a plane.

Police had previously said they were still verifying Borgwardt’s version of events.

The coalition will potentially endorse a single candidate in new presidential election.

Romania’s pro-European parties have agreed to form a majority government in a move that will shut out far-right nationalists.

The leftist Social Democratic Party, or PSD – which topped the polls in the December 1 election – reached an agreement late on Tuesday to form a coalition with the centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL), the reformist Save Romania Union party (USR), and the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party.

The election also saw three ultranationalist and hard-right groupings, some overtly pro-Russian, win more than a third of seats.

The country’s parliamentary election followed shortly after a presidential vote in which the far-right, NATO-critic Calin Georgescu won the first round, prompting allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference.

Days before the December 8 presidential run-off, the Constitutional Court annulled the presidential race.

“In the coming days, the four parties and representatives of national minorities will work on a common governing program based on development and reforms which will consider the priorities of Romanian citizens,” said a statement from the newly formed coalition.

The coalition said the parties would potentially support a “common pro-European candidate” in the new presidential election.

Whether Georgescu will be allowed to run in the new vote or not is still uncertain, with prosecutors investigating his campaign.

Elena Lasconi, the leader of USR who was set to face Georgescu in the annulled presidential run-off, said after the agreement was reached that “Romania is going through a very difficult” period and that cutting state spending and reducing bureaucracy would be part of the governing programme.

Analysts expect the four parties, which have often clashed on policy issues, will struggle to agree on certain economic measures.

The new government will also devise a new calendar for the presidential election, likely to be held in the first half of 2025.

Outgoing President Klaus Iohannis, who will stay on until a new president is sworn in, will nominate a prime minister. The current legislative term ends on December 21.