Israel appoints Yechiel Leiter as ambassador to the US

(ANSA) – JERUSALEM, NOV 24 – The Israeli government has appointed Yechiel Leiter, a close friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ambassador to the United States. “The government has unanimously approved the appointment of Dr. Yechiel Leiter as ambassador to the United States,” announced a press release from the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Leiter, 65, a former adviser to Netanyahu, is of American origin and lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank. 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, Netanyahu’s party, Leiter is currently a strategic advisor. Previously he held various positions, including in the Israeli administration, in particular that of head of the port authority. His son, Moshe Leiter, an Israeli army officer, was killed in November 2023 in the Gaza Strip. He succeeds Mike Herzog, brother of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who was appointed in 2021. Leiter will take office in Washington after President-elect Donald Trump takes office. (HANDLE).