The new U.S. ambassador to Israel, William Brown, presented his credentials Thursday to President Chaim Herzog — and he did so in fluent Hebrew.
Brown, who holds masters and doctorate degrees from Harvard University, learned Hebrew on his first tour of duty in Tel Aviv from 1979 to 1982, when he was the No. 2 man at the U.S. Embassy.
Brown arrived in Israel Wednesday night with his wife, Helen, and their four children. “To me this is a top diplomatic post. I feel we are coming back home,” the American envoy said at an airport news conference.
Brown succeeds Thomas Pickering, who left Israel after a three-a-half-year tour as ambassador. Pickering has been named U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations.
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