Erdan to Step Down As Ambassador to US, Will Remain in UN Role

By Staff, Agencies

The “Israeli” entity's Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations Gilad Erdan, will step down from the former role as soon as a replacement has been found – and not beyond the end of November of this year.

In a statement, Erdan, a former Likud party minister, who was an appointee of the former government, said that he thought the new government should install its own representative in Washington, reported The Times of “Israel”.

Despite his stated wish to step down from the US ambassador role, he maintained that he would like to remain in the post of ambassador to the United Nations.

Erdan has served as envoy to the UN since July 2020 and as ambassador to the US since January of this year.

Diplomatic reports suggest that he informed the entity’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid, coordinating his plans with them.

“I am proud of the privilege to represent ‘Israel’ to its most important allies,” Erdan said. “Nonetheless, it seems proper to me that the person who represents the government to the US administration should be appointed by the incumbent government and therefore I let the prime minister know of my intention to end my term immediately after the government approves an ambassador.

“I will continue to defend 'Israel' at the UN and to fight for our cause in the international arena,” he added.

Last week, Lapid announced that one of his first policy priorities was the appointment of 36 diplomats, whose deployment the previous Benjamin Netanyahu government had delayed as a feature of its dysfunction and instability.