Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed U.S.-born Yechiel Leiter an official who previously served as chief of staff in the finance ministry, as the next Israeli ambassador to the United States.
“Yechiel Leiter is a highly capable diplomat, an eloquent speaker, and possesses a deep understanding of American culture and politics,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
His appointment was also welcomed by Yisrael Ganz, the head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organisation representing councils of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a territory Palestinians want as part of a future state.
Ganz said Leiter, who lives in the Gush Etzion settlement area, as “a key partner in English-language advocacy for Judea and Samaria”, a name used by many Israelis for the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Leiter’s appointment came three days after Donald Trump’s election to a second term as U.S. president, celebrated by many Israelis because of his strong support for Israel.
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Leiter — who was born in Scranton, Pa., and moved to Israel when he was 18 — has held a bevy of government positions, including serving as chief of staff to Israel’s Ministry of Finance and the deputy director general in the Ministry of Education.
The former policy analyst also ran for a seat in the Knesset, Israel’s Legislature, as a member of the Likud Party.
He got his Ph.D. in political philosophy from the University of Haifa. Leiter’s son, Maj. Moshe Yedidya Leiter, was killed last year during the Israel-Hamas war.
The latest appointment also comes after Netanyahu ousted his former defense chief Yoav Gallant over what he described as trust issues and “gaps” between them in the management of the conflict in the Middle East. The two have clashed publicly over the course of the more than yearlong war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Netanyahu named former foreign minister Israel Katz to the open defense post.
Reuters.com
