Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday decided to extend the tenure of Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon until May 2020, Hebrew media reported.
Edited by: TJVNews.com
The decision was made just hours before the ambassador’s term was to expire Tuesday night, according to an i24 News report.
Earlier, reports suggested that Netanyahu decided not to extend Danon’s term, after he had already extended it by six months in the summer of 2019.
The Times of Israel reported that the UN posting is often seen as a mission impossible job in a hostile environment, where Israel is constantly attacked diplomatically. The job was held by Netanyahu from 1984 to 1988, before he was elected to the Knesset that year and later becoming prime minister in 1996.
Hebrew-language broadcaster Channel 12 reported that Danon was to be replaced by Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Noa Furman until a permanent appointment was made, as was reported by i24 News.
Netanyahu is leading an interim government and therefore asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit if he could make a permanent appointment — but the latter has yet to give him an answer, according to the i24 News report.
The Times of Israel reported that the latest extensions come amid Israel’s ongoing political deadlock, with the country lacking a fully functioning government since the first of three rounds of elections was called over a year ago. The upcoming elections will be held March 2.
There currently are no Israeli ambassadors to Russia, Canada and Egypt, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan was deemed as a leading candidate for the role but according to the Jerusalem Post refused to embrace the offer after previously rejecting the role during the summer as well.
Lawmaker and Likud member Ofir Akunis, on the other hand, made it clear that he’d be willing to take the reins if offered to him, Channel 12 reported. “If I receive an offer, I will consider it positively,” he said.
Eventually, the Israeli premier decided to keep the current ambassador to the UN at his place.
Danon holds a B.A. in International Relations, F.I.U. (Magna Cum Laude), an M.A. Public Policy and Public Administration from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and also studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Law School. He is married and the father of three.
He served among others as Chairman of World Likud, Member of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors, Member of the Zionist Executive of W.Z.O. and Chairman of the World Betar Executive.
Danny Danon was a Member of Knesset from February 2009 until August 2015. He served as Deputy Speaker of the 18th Knesset, as Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and among others as a member of the Labor, Welfare and Health Committee, House, Constitution, Law and Justice, Foreign Affairs and Defense, Education, Culture, and Sports Committee, and Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, as well as on the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
