Israel’s Cabinet on Sunday approved Zalman Shuval, a Likud member of Knesset, to be Israel’s next ambassador to Washington.
Shuval, a member of the Ometz faction of the Likud bloc, was named to succeed Moshe Arad, who has been ambassador to the United States for exactly three years.
His appointment fulfills the accord struck in June between Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, the Likud leader, and Shuval’s Ometz faction, which requested the prestigious position in exchange for joining the Likud coalition government.
An official announcement will come after the U.S. government formally accepts Shuval, an accepted diplomatic practice.
Shuval, who is 60 and a banker by profession, said Sunday that he thought Israel’s public relations task in the United States had been made easier by the crisis in the Persian Gulf.
The fray, he said, has pointed out the existence of critical flash points in the Middle East other than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Because of his assignment, Shuval must resign his seat in the Knesset. The Ometz party, which comprises only two members of Knesset, Shuval and Yigael Hurvitz, will now be reduced to only Hurvitz.
Shuval will be succeeded in his seat by former Likud member of Knesset Haim Kaufman of the Herut faction, whose name is next on the Likud list.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
