Netanyahu appoints Likud hardliner Danny Danon as UN envoy

“Herzog says appointment will lead Israel to international isolation”.

I24 NEWS – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday appointed Science Minister and Likud hardliner Danny Danon to be Israel’s next Ambassador to the United Nations.

“Danon has agreed to take on an important challenge that I proposed for him,” Netanyahu said. “The UN is an important forum right now and I am sure that Danny will represent the truth with full force in the international arena.”

For his part, Danon thanked the PM and said he would “do everything to advance Israel’s just positions.”

The opposition Zionist Union called the appointment of Danon “another nail in the coffin that Bibi is putting in Israel’s foreign relations.”

Zionist Union chief Isaac Herzog described the move as a form of “petty politics,” while fellow MK Tzipi Livni accused Netanyahu of “abandoning the state of Israel in favor of personal interests.”

Danon, 44, is considered to be one of the most powerful figures in the ruling Likud party and chairs its central committee. He and Netanyahu have been at loggerheads on various issues for some time.

Netanyahu’s closest contender for the 2015 Likud leadership was Danon, who garnered 20% of the votes from the party for ahead of the general election in March.

Last summer, he was fired from his post as deputy defense minister by the PM for publicly criticizing what he claimed was Israel’s insufficiently aggressive conduct during the 50-day conflict with Hamas.

During the US-brokered peace talks last year, Danon warned that if Netanyahu “makes too much progress” in peace talks with the Palestinians, the party would depose him as its leader.

“Anyone operating according to the path laid out by Secretary of State John Kerry, cannot lead the Likud,” Danon said on Israel Army Radio at the time.

“We are a democratic movement… but as someone who knows the Likud members really well, we will not support the Kerry plan,” Danon said, explaining that the plan calls for Israel to revert to its 1967 borders, divide Jerusalem and withdraw from the Jordan Valley.

Danon will be replacing current Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor.

Netanyahu’s appointments of new Israeli envoys stir controversy

Netanyahu has been busy filling Israel’s other diplomatic posts around the world. He is expected to tap Mark Regev, the current spokesman for foreign media at the Prime Minister’s Office, as the Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Netanyahu has also made the controversial decision to appoint Fiamma Nirenstein, a former member of the Italian Parliament and journalist who immigrated to Israel, as the Israeli Ambassador to Rome – creating fears in the Italian Jewish Community that this will bring accusations of dual loyalties. Dani Dayan has also been appointed to be Israel’s Ambassador to Brazil.

The appointment of Fiamma Nirenstein as Israel’s Ambassador to Italy has stirred controversy, the Israeli news site Ynet reported on Thursday. Having served as a member of Parliament in Italy, Nirenstein will have to give up her Italian passport in order to represent Israel as its ambassador – and the Italian Jewish community is furious at Netanyahu for choosing her as his envoy.

During a closed session, a leader of the Italian Jewish community said that “Netanyahu has turned us into a fifth column in our country. If a former Italian parliament member, a Jew, becomes Israel’s ambassador, it basically means that we recognize the fact that each of us, and every store we own, is in fact Israeli. People will think we have dual loyalty, and this holds disastrous consequences.”

Italian newspapers such as La Stampa, which Nirenstein used to work for as a correspondent, have already begun to discuss the topic. The question that is being asked by many is whether she will really be representing Israel or the Italian Jewish community while serving in the country.

On Thursday, the Prime Minister’s Office also announced that Mark Regev is up for the post of Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Once Regev receives approval from the Civil Service Commission, the cabinet will be able to confirm him. Regev will be replacing the outgoing Ambassador to London, Daniel Taub, as soon as he is confirmed, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported.As foreign media spokesman, Regev became recognizable in the media during Israel’s military Operations Cast Lead and Protective Edge.

He was part of Israel’s Foreign Service, mostly in media and spokesperson roles, and has been “on loan” to the Prime Minister’s Office for the past eight years – a position he started under former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Regev, 55, was born in Australia and immigrated to Israel in 1982.