PM Netanyahu does a “John Bolton” move by appointing Danny Danon as Israel’s new ambassador to the United Nations. Another nail in Netanyahu’s coffin of foreign policy.
The liberal Zionist group J Street promptly welcomed Danon with sarcasm.
Meet Israel’s new Ambassador to the United Nations, @dannydanon.
#MeetTheMinistersEven rightwing Israel editor David Horovitz is upset.
“This is a sharp stick in Obama’s eye. The real issue is that Danon’s appointment appears to confirm everything Netanyahu’s critics at home and abroad have asserted about his true intentions with respect to the Palestinians. And since those critics are headed by the president of Israel’s main ally — with whom Netanyahu is already in open dispute over the deeply flawed accord with Iran — it is hard to conceive of a more short-sighted, shameful, self-defeating and damaging appointment. Not just for Netanyahu and his government, but for all of Israel.”
In recent years, Danon has been one of the most outspoken Likud MKs against U.S. President Barack Obama. He has forged alliances with the conservative, right-wing elements of the Republican Party, headed by Texas Governor Rick Perry.
In September 2011, outside of the UN General Assembly, Danon and Perry held a joint press conference expressing opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state and severely criticized Obama’s Middle East policy as dangerous, naive and misguided. Danon called on Obama to “stop the policy of grovelling to the Palestinians.”
Danon’s appointment as UN envoy is designed to solve a series of political problems for Netanyahu within his party. When Danon heads to the UN in October immediately following the UN General Assembly, Danon will give up his place in the cabinet, allowing Netanyahu to fulfill promises made to Likud MKs Tzachi Hanegbi and Benny Begin, effectively allowing them to serve as government ministers.
Further, Danon has served as chairman of the Likud Central Committee, a post from which he rebelled against Netanyahu more than once, challenging his leadership. Upon Danon’s departure to New York, Netanyahu could push to appoint a more suitable appointment for Likud Central Committee chairman.
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Netanyahu and Danon – a firebrand who has called to reopen the Temple Mount to Jewish worship and has called boycotts against Israel “modern-day anti-Semitism” – have had a tense relationship.
Last year, Netanyahu fired Danon from the post of deputy defense minister after Danon publicly criticized Netanyahu for not taking firmer military action against Hamas during Israel’s summer offensive against the group in Gaza. After his dismissal, Danon lambasted Netanyahu’s “leftist flaccid attitude,” as he termed it.
At the U.N. headquarters in New York, Danon will replace Ron Prosor, who is widely credited in Israel for his performance at the organization, where Israel is often singled out for criticism, but where it has recently clinched some precedent-setting roles.