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Netanyahu appoints senior Likud member as his right-hand man in US

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, appointed to be Israel’s new envoy to both the United States and the UN, is a true Likud ideologist and ardent supporter of annexation.
FILE PHOTO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) sits next to Israeli Public security Minister Gilad Erdan during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem April 10, 2016. REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool/File photo - RC17175E03C0

The surprising and exceptional decision to name Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to be both Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and Israel’s ambassador in Washington was made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because of political constraints.

The prime minister found himself in a tough spot in distributing ministries for senior members of his Likud party because of the generous coalition agreement with Blue and White. According to the national-unity deal, each party gets an equal number of ministerial portfolios. This meant Netanyahu had to be creative in finding suitable solutions for those who had been serving as ministers. On May 11 he met with Erdan, a popular  Likud minister, and presented him with this enticing offer: to be his right hand in the United States, in the two most senior positions, during a period when Netanyahu intends to promote the imposition of Israeli sovereignty on West Bank lands with the Trump administration. 

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