The cabinet on Sunday unanimously approved the nomination of Yechiel Leiter, a career civil servant active in the pro-settlement movement, as Israel’s next ambassador to the United States.
He will take office on January 24, 2024, after Donald Trump returns to the White House.
At the cabinet meeting, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was confident the American-born Leiter would contribute significantly to “strengthening Israel’s most important relationship – with the United States,” Saar’s office reported.
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Saar also praised current Ambassador Mike Herzog, the brother of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who was appointed in 2021, for his work in Washington.
Maj. (Res.) Moshe Yedidyah Leiter. (Credit: Israeli Army)
Leiter’s son, Major (Res.) Moshe Yedidyah Leiter, was killed fighting the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip on November 10, 2023, following the pogrom carried out by the latter on the 7 October 2023 in southern Israel.
Close to the American Republican Party, he was one of the leaders of the Yesha council, one of the main settler organizations in the 1990s.
A member of Likud, Mr. Netanyahu’s party, Mr. Leiter is currently a strategy advisor, notably for Israeli think tanks.
Previously he held various positions, including in the Israeli administration, notably as head of the port authority.
Very critical of the policy of the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden, he denounced in January on the private internet channel Tov the “American pressures” with regard to the conduct of the war in Gaza by Israel.
For his part, Donald Trump recently announced the appointment as ambassador to Israel of evangelical Christian pastor Mike Huckabee, a former governor who sees biblical reasons to defend Israel.
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