President Truman today announced the nomination of James G. McDonald to serve as first Ambassador of the United States to Israel. McDonald has been special representative to Israel since July, 1948.
The nomination follows agreement by the two nations to establish Embassies in Washington and Tel Aviv. The State Department said that the Government of Israel had informed the United States that Eliahu Epstein, former special representative to the United States, has been appointed Israeli Ambassador to this country.
The Israeli Ambassador today assumed the name of Eliahu Elath. Elath is an old Hebrew word for Aqaba and Ambassador Elath is following a present-day trend in Israel by changing his old name for a Hebrew one, the Israeli Embassy explained.
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