Natan Sharansky reportedly rejected overtures to serve as Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni recently contacted Sharansky to suggest he succeed Dan Gillerman, Israel’s outgoing U.N. ambassador, but he turned her down, the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot reported Sunday.
According to the newspaper, Sharansky, a former Soviet refusenik and Israeli Cabinet minister who quit politics in 2005 to protest the Gaza Strip withdrawal plan, was expected to reject any offer to serve in the Olmert government.
Gillerman steps down in the coming weeks. Among other candidates to replace him, according to Yediot, are Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul-general in New York; former Shin Bet chief Yaacov Perry; and former Tel Aviv mayor Roni Milo.
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