Netanyahu names Yechiel Leiter – his former chief of staff and trusted advisor – as Israel’s next ambassador to the US

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — With Donald Trump coming back to power as president of the United States this January, Israel will have a new ambassador in Washington to strengthen relations with its most important ally.

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu appointed Dr. Yechiel Leiter – a long-time trusted friend and advisor – to the prestigious, sensitive, and coveted post.  

"Yechiel Leiter is a highly capable diplomat, an eloquent speaker and possesses a deep understanding of American culture and politics,” Netanyahu said in a press release. 

“I am convinced that Yechiel will represent the State of Israel in the best way possible. I wish him success in his position.”

Michael Herzog, the current ambassador, will wrap up his assignment on Jan. 20, 2025. 

WHO IS YECHIEL LEITER?

Leiter was born in the United States – in Scranton, Pennsylvania – and is well-versed in American culture, media and politics.

He made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) at 18, becoming an Israeli citizen and serving in the IDF during the First Lebanon War in the early 1980s.

An Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a right-wing member of the settler movement in Judea and Samaria, Leiter is a strong believer that the territory known globally as the “West Bank” was actually given to the Jewish people by God in the Bible.  

He is “deeply familiar” with senior officials in the incoming Trump-Vance administration, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Close to Netanyahu for decades, Leiter served as chief of staff when Bibi was the minister of finance back when Ariel Sharon was prime minister.

Leiter has also served in other senior public service positions in Israel, including as deputy director general in the Education Ministry and acting chairman of the Israel Ports Company.

LAST SUMMER, LEITER ADDRESSED AN EVANGELICAL SUMMIT IN IOWA

Last July, I had the honor of speaking on a panel with Leiter at The Family Leadership Summit – a gathering of some 2,000 Evangelical lawmakers, policy experts, and grassroots activists in Des Moines, Iowa, discussing the importance of Jews and Christians working together to strengthen Israel. Leiter also delivered a powerful address to the Summit, which was organized and hosted by ALL ISRAEL NEWS Advisory Board member, Bob Vander Plaats, who runs The Family Leader organization in Iowa.

IN HIS SPEECH TO CONGRESS, NETANYAHU HONORED LEITER’S SON WHO WAS KILLED IN GAZA

Tragically, his son, Major Moshe Yedidya Leiter, was killed in combat in Gaza on Nov. 10, 2023.

In July, Leiter was a personal guest of the prime minister when Netanyahu delivered his address to a Joint Session of Congress.

In the speech, Netanyahu honored Leiter’s son in a moving and powerful tribute.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the men and women of the IDF come from every corner of Israeli society, every ethnicity, every color, every creed, left and right, religious and secular,” Netanyahu told members of both the House and Senate. 

“All are imbued with the indomitable spirit of the Maccabees, the legendary Jewish warriors of antiquity.”

“With us today is Yechiel Leiter, the father of one of those Maccabees. Yechiel's father escaped the Holocaust and found refuge in America. As a young man, Yechiel moved to Israel and raised a family of eight children. He named his eldest son Moshe after his late father. Moshe became an exemplary officer in one of our elite commando units. He served with distinction for two decades while raising six beautiful children of his own.”

“On October 7th, Moshe volunteered to return to combat. Four weeks later, he was killed when a booby-trap mine exploded in a tunnel shaft right next to a Mosque.”

“At his son's funeral Yechiel said this: ‘If the State of Israel had not been established after the Holocaust, the image engraved in our collective memory would have been the photograph of that helpless Jewish boy in the Warsaw Ghetto holding his hands up in the air with Nazi rifles pointed at him. But because of the birth of Israel,’ Yechiel continued, ‘because of the courage of soldiers like my son Moshe, the Jewish people are no longer helpless in the face of our enemies.’”

“Yechiel, please rise so we can honor your son's sacrifice,” Netanyahu then said. “And I pledge to you and to all the bereaved families of Israel, some of whom are in this hall today, the sacrifice of your loved ones will not be in vain. It will not be in vain because for Israel, ‘never again’ must never be an empty promise. It must always remain a sacred vow. And after October 7th, ‘never again’ is now.”

Leiter received a thunderous standing ovation. 

NETANYAHU HAD WANTED MINISTER RON DERMER TO SERVE AGAIN IN WASHINGTON

ALL ISRAEL NEWS learned that Netanyahu’s first choice and his most trusted advisor, Ron Dermer, would take the post. 

Currently the minister of Strategic Affairs, Dermer served as ambassador to the U.S. for seven years, from 2013 to 2021.

He is widely considered Israel’s most effective emissary to the American superpower, having helped negotiate four Arab-Israeli peace and normalization agreements known as the Abraham Accords.

Dermer was born and raised in the U.S. – in Miami Beach, Florida, where his father was the mayor – and has a sharp and incisive understanding of American culture, media and politics. 

However, given that he has already served in the post in Washington longer than any other Israeli – and wants his five kids to grow up in Israel, and has a son serving in the IDF – Dermer was reluctant to agree to Netanyahu’s request.

ANOTHER TOP CONTENDER WAS DR. OPHIR FALK

Another top contender has been Netanyahu’s current foreign policy advisor, Ophir Falk. 

“Falk, a lawyer with a PhD in international relations specializing in counter-terrorism, was born in Israel and lived in Canada from ages 4 to 18,” noted Israeli outlet Ynet News.

“He has become a close confidant of Netanyahu in recent years, helping him write his autobiography,” the paper reported in a July profile that first suggested the possibility of Falk being appointed ambassador.

Falk “previously lived in the United States for about five years as a research fellow at Georgetown University's Institute for Security Studies and at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya's Institute for Counter-Terrorism.”

“Upon Netanyahu's return to the Prime Minister’s Office, he appointed Falk as his political advisor and later as his envoy for hostage negotiations. Falk has participated in several negotiation delegations led by Mossad Director David Barnea, acting as Netanyahu's point of contact.”

NETANYAHU THANKS OUTGOING AMBASSADOR MICHAEL HERZOG

On Thursday, the Prime Minister’s Office issued the following statement:

Upon the completion of the three-year term allocated to the Israeli Ambassador to the US, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested that Ambassador Michael (Mike) Herzog temporarily extend his tenure until 20 January 2025.

The Prime Minister will, in the coming days, announce the appointment of a new ambassador who will soon leave for the transition period.

Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked Ambassador Herzog for his work over the last three years, and for his significant and professional contribution, especially during the challenging war period. Ambassador Herzog has honorably represented the State of Israel before administration officials, Congress, civil society organizations, the global media, and the American Jewish community.