Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a hardline supporter of the battle in Gaza and longtime backer of settlements within the West Financial institution as his ambassador to the US as Israel prepares for the incoming administration of Donald Trump.
Yechiel Leiter, an American-born rightwing publicist and former authorities aide who immigrated to Israel 4 a long time in the past, was introduced as Israel’s subsequent ambassador to Washington on Friday. His son, a soldier within the Israeli Protection Forces, was killed in preventing in northern Gaza final yr.
Leiter is a “extremely proficient diplomat, an eloquent speaker, who has a deep understanding of American tradition and politics”, Netanyahu mentioned in a press release asserting the appointment. “I’m satisfied that Yechiel will signify the state of Israel in the very best manner, and I want him success in his place.”
Leiter will substitute the present ambassador Michael Herzog, whose time period will finish on 20 January.
Leiter, who was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, has been a distinguished rightwing thinker in Israel who was chief of employees to Netanyahu when he was finance minister and an aide to the late prime minister Ariel Sharon when he was a member of the Knesset.
In line with Israeli media, Leiter has been affiliated with conservative coverage centres together with the Jerusalem Middle for Public Affairs and the Kohelet Discussion board.
Haaretz additionally reported that he was beforehand a member of the Jewish Protection League, which was based by the far-right Rabbi Meir Kahane and was designated a terrorist organisation by the US for a sequence of assaults and assassinations. It was faraway from that record for inactivity on account of inactivity.
Leiter is reported to reside in a West Financial institution settlement north of Ramallah, and is affiliated with the One Israel Fund, which fundraises for settlers. His appointment was lauded by Israel Ganz, a rightwing settler chief who referred to as Leiter a “key companion in English-language advocacy for Judea and Samaria”, the Biblical time period utilized by Israeli settler communities within the West Financial institution.
Trump throughout his first time period reversed the US place that Israeli settlements within the occupied West Financial institution had been unlawful beneath worldwide legislation, and a variety of settler leaders have mentioned that Israel ought to formally annex the West Financial institution following Trump’s reelection to a second time period.
Leiter’s son Moshe was killed in preventing in northern Gaza final yr. He was Netanyahu’s visitor when the prime minister visited Washington this summer season throughout a contentious speech earlier than a joint session of Congress.
At his son’s funeral on the Mount Herzl Navy Cemetery in Jerusalem final November, Leiter addressed Joe Biden and the “rumors that you’re placing stress on Israel to carry off, to stop the offensive”.
“If these rumors are true – I hope they’re not – but when they’re true, Mr President, I respectfully ask of you, right here on my son’s grave, to stop and desist,” he continued. “Stand again Mr President: don’t stress us. Allow us to do what we all know do, certainly what we should do, to defeat evil. This can be a battle of sunshine in opposition to darkness, of reality in opposition to lies, of civility in opposition to murderous barbarism.
“Take it from one plain-speaking Scrantonian to a different – we’re going to win this one, with you or with out you,” he mentioned. “We’re going win it palms down, as a result of we’re a individuals of survival, and this battle is one in every of survival.”
