From The Forward:

Trump’s Reported Pick of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State Spooks Jewish Groups

Josh Nathan-Kazis December 12, 2016

The Secretary of State pick floated over the weekend by president-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is making Jewish groups nervous.

Rex Tillerson, the multi-millionaire CEO of the multinational oil corporation Exxon Mobil, could succeed John Kerry as the chief U.S. diplomat, according to news reports. …

“There’s some real causes of concern,” said Ron Halber, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, and an influential voice on Jewish communal policy.

A lifelong Exxon Mobil executive, Tillerson has no public service background, and no public track record on Israel-related issues. He has close ties to the Russian government.

Jewish leaders said that Tillerson’s opposition to sanctions, his relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin and the general oil industry bias towards Arab states all made them anxious about the Tillerson nomination.

Even Trump fans, like Zionist Organization of America president Mort Klein, expressed displeasure with the notion of Tillerson running the State Department. “In general, people who have led oil companies are not that friendly to Israel,” Klein said. “That concerns me.”

Klein added that he had confidence in Trump to choose well.

Klein and others voiced general suspicion of oil executives, who they said often have longstanding relationships with Arab leaders, and are generally not attuned to Israeli interests.