Yechiel Leiter’s choice comes days after Trump election victory and presages anticipated US-Israel coverage shift.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has chosen Yechiel Leiter as the brand new Israeli ambassador to the USA, days after Republican Donald Trump was elected for a second term within the White Home.
Leiter, a US-born resident of an Israeli settlement within the occupied West Financial institution, has lengthy been a proponent of illegal settlement expansion. His choice coincides with the Netanyahu authorities’s enthusiastic response to Trump’s return to the White Home.
Trump took a steadfastly loyal approach to Israel throughout his first time period, significantly when it got here to Israeli settlements, claiming “the Jewish state has by no means had a greater pal within the White Home.”
In an announcement on Friday, Netanyahu’s workplace pointed to Leiter’s previous positions within the Israeli authorities, together with as Netanyahu’s chief of employees when the prime minister was the secretary of finance. He has additionally served because the deputy director basic of the Ministry of Schooling and performing chairman of the Israel Ports Firm.
In an announcement, Netanyahu referred to as Leiter “a extremely succesful diplomat, an eloquent speaker” with a deep understanding of American tradition and politics.
Leiter, who was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, additionally the hometown of US President Joe Biden, has not too long ago been a number one voice calling for extra Israeli troopers preventing in Gaza and Lebanon – and their households – to play a bigger position in authorities.
His son, Moshe Leiter, was killed in northern Gaza in November final 12 months.
‘Most radical streams’
Talking to Al Jazeera, Michael Omer-Man, the director of analysis on Israel-Palestine for Democracy for the Arab World Now, mentioned Leiter has proved to be a savvy political actor “who has been working to push American perceptions about Israeli settlement motion and the righteousness of Israeli domination of the whole land for actually his entire profession.”
Omer-Man added that Leiter “is anyone who’s ideologically aligned with probably the most radical streams of Israeli settlement mental thought and ideological motion”.
Israeli settlements are unlawful below worldwide regulation.
Leiter continues to reside within the settlement of Eli situated north of Ramallah, in line with Israeli media, and is listed because the founding chairman of a New York-based group – One Israel Fund – which helps settlers within the occupied West Financial institution.
His appointment underscores the Israeli authorities’s expectation of a wider, more permissive policy pivot by the White Home when Trump takes workplace in January.
Throughout his first term, Trump recognised Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights in Syria, moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and oversaw the restoration of diplomatic relations between Israel and a number of other Arab international locations by way of the Abraham Accords.
He additionally reversed the long-held US place that settlements within the occupied West Financial institution are unlawful below worldwide regulation. His first stint within the White Home noticed an explosion in unlawful settlements within the West Financial institution that continued after his election loss in 2020.
Whereas the Biden administration has repeatedly declined to leverage US army assist to Israel to rein within the increasing struggle in Gaza and Lebanon, Israeli settlements have been one space the place officers have expressed considerations.
The administration has imposed sanctions on teams and people linked to settler violence – a transfer that some analysts imagine can be swiftly reversed by Trump. Final 12 months, the US summoned Israel’s present ambassador to the nation, Mike Herzog, over an Israeli regulation that allowed for the growth of settlements within the northern West Financial institution.
Omer-Man mentioned Leiter’s appointment is probably going an early step in laying the groundwork for wider annexation of the West Financial institution and doable efforts to resettle Gaza after the struggle. That final merchandise has been pushed by Israeli Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, himself a settler.
Leiter’s appointment is “on the very least a concession to the settlement motion by Netanyahu, however most likely greater than that, it’s a sign of the place Netanyahu’s going”, Omer-Man mentioned.
“We’re going to see much more of those alerts,” he added. “The intention is to easily go manner additional than they did within the first Trump time period.”
