Netanyahu considers replacing ambassador to US… Virtually sacked amid conflict in the US

by times news cr

2024-05-10 07:02:15

Erdan, Ambassador to the United Nations, mentioned as successor

With friction between Israel and the United States reaching a peak over the ground attack on Rafah, the last city in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly considering replacing the ambassador to the United States.

According to the Jerusalem Post and others on the 9th (local time), Israel’s Channel 13 reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu is considering replacing Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog in closed-door meetings in recent weeks.

Ambassador Herzog is four months away from the expiration of his term, and it has been discussed whether he will be reappointed for another year. However, Prime Minister Netanyahu is known to be focusing on replacement rather than a second term.

Ambassador Herzog is a national security expert and veteran peace negotiator and the older brother of Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog.

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, is mentioned as a successor. Ambassador Erdan took office as Minister of Regional Cooperation in May 2020, but was appointed Ambassador to the United Nations and Ambassador to the United States by Prime Minister Netanyahu after the U.S. presidential election at the end of the same year.

When Ambassador Herzog was appointed in November of the following year, he became the only ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador Erdan’s term as UN ambassador is scheduled to end this summer.

This replacement is interpreted as a hard appointment at a time when Israel and the United States are experiencing the greatest friction since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip.

Last week, the United States put on hold the shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound (approximately 900 kg) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (approximately 230 kg) bombs that were intended to be sent to Israel.

In an interview with CNN released the day before, President Biden acknowledged for the first time that American weapons caused the deaths of innocent Gaza civilians, and warned that he would stop supporting offensive weapons if Israel goes ahead with the ground attack on Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza.

The Israeli leadership expressed deep frustration with this decision and reportedly dispatched officials to the United States to receive an explanation.

In a webinar hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ambassador Herzog condemned this decision by the United States, saying, “It is sending the wrong message to Hamas and its enemies,” and calling it “a very regrettable thing.”

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2024-05-10 07:02:15

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