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Ex-Iran envoy Robert Malley was critical of Israel, has family ties to PLO

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Robert Malley — the State Department bureaucrat and former Iran special envoy who is mysteriously on leave for allegedly mishandling classified information — grew up with Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat as his unofficial “godfather” and once wrote that the Israeli treatment of Arabs was “shameful.”

Malley is under probe, along with members of his Iran negotiating team, by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability for allegedly “compromising ties to the Iranian regime.”

He once tried to normalize relations with Hamas, the Iran-backed terrorist group which massacred some 1,200 Israelis and at least 27 Americans this week.

The 60-year-old was suspended under a cloud of secrecy by the State Department in June.

At the time, he confirmed that his security clearance was being investigated and that he was confident about a positive outcome, according to a statement he provided to Fox News.

“I have been informed that my security clearance is under review,” he told the outlet. “I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon. In the meantime, I am on leave.”

But that might take a while longer with mounting speculation that Iran financed and helped coordinate the recent attacks on Israel.

Follow along with The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel

“He compromised classified information, we think with Iran, and now there’s a wider investigation into this,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said on Fox News Thursday.

Although Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there is no “direct evidence” that Iran was behind the attacks on Israeli citizens, he did acknowledge that “Iran has had a long relationship with Hamas” in an interview with NBC Thursday.

“Hamas wouldn’t be Hamas without the support over many, many years from Iran,” Blnken said. “And so, we know that. We see that. When it comes to this specific attack, in this moment, we don’t have direct evidence that Iran was involved in the attack, either in planning it or carrying it out.”

Although Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there is no “direct evidence” that Iran was behind the attacks on Israeli citizens, he did acknowledge that “Iran has had a long relationship with Hamas” in an interview with NBC Thursday.

Malley, who served as the Biden administration’s special envoy for Iran since Jan. 2021, is now teaching at the Yale Jackson School of International Affairs at Yale University.

Before that, he served as president and CEO of the George Soros-backed International Crisis Group, a non-profit that works to prevent wars, according to its website.

In his capacity as a Middle Eastern analyst, he has regularly spoken with Hamas, and tried to normalize the US’ relationship with Iran — a situation that has earned him the moniker “Mullah Malley” among his many detractors in the Iranian opposition.

Brooklyn-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad began a petition last year to convince the State Department to remove Malley as Iran envoy.

“Now, we respectfully ask President Biden to appoint a new Special Envoy that the people in the US and in Iran can trust and respect as a symbol of America’s commitment to freedom and democracy,” she wrote.

Alinejad added that Malley had “minimized” widespread Iranian protests that broke out after the death of Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after she was arrested for not wearing her hijab in a proper way. The petition has so far gathered more than 136,000 signatures.

Malley is no stranger to controversy, and has followed in the footsteps of his father — an Egyptian-born Jew and Arab nationalist journalist who dedicated his life to anti-Israel causes and the developing world.

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