Israel’s UN envoy takes second role as ambassador to US

Israel's UN envoy Gilad Erdan took on a second role today as the country’s ambassador to the United States. Erdan is expected to shuttle between New York and Washington, serving in the two positions simultaneously.

Erdan was nominated for both positions last May in a surprising and exceptional decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At the time, Erdan was a popular outgoing public security minister. Netanyahu was in the process of establishing the unity government with the Blue and White Party and other political partners. He had too many Likud candidates for just a handful of portfolios. Nominating Erdan as ambassador was a win-win situation for Netanyahu, even at the price of two ambassadorial posts.

The deal was for Erdan to start as envoy to the United Nations last summer, taking over as ambassador to the United States later on, after the inauguration of the new American president. Netanyahu wanted to keep Ambassador Ron Dermer — his own man in Washington — until the end of President Donald Trump’s term.

Dermer had been nominated in 2013, serving an unusually long period (prolonged again and again at Netanyahu's request) of almost eight years. He is considered an especially close associate of Netanyahu and also of several Republican leaders and former White House seniors. Netanyahu and Dermer have often been accused of tampering with the traditional American bipartisan support for Israel for the sake of friendship with Trump.