JERUSALEM — David Ivry, former director-general of Israel’s defense ministry, has been appointed as the new ambassador to the United States.
Ivry is considered to have good relations with the U.S. administration. Currently head of Israel’s National Security Council, Ivry is one of a group of Israeli officials involved in drawing up a new strategic cooperation pact with the United States.
“We have known and worked with David Ivry for many years, and he is a superb choice,” said Howard Kohr, executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“He has probably been responsible for handling more sensitive matters in the U.S.-Israel relationship than perhaps any other individual in the last decade. He is without question one of Israel’s most seasoned and proven strategists who is intimately familiar with all of the nuances in the U.S.-Israel relationship.”
Ivry, who is 65, will replace Zalman Shoval, a political appointment of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had offered to resign immediately after the elections.
Until now, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had chosen to keep Shoval in Washington. In recent weeks, however, there has been mounting pressure on Barak to chose a replacement, especially because the Israeli-Palestinian final-status talks are scheduled to begin in earnest. Having a strong, loyal ambassador in Washington is considered crucial to their success.
This week’s appointment came as American peace team members Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk, who is slated to return to Israel as ambassador, arrived in Israel to try to push forward peace efforts.
Meanwhile, Oded Eran, Israel’s ambassador to Jordan, has been appointed the chief negotiator in the final-status talks.
Eran, a veteran diplomat who has served in the Israeli Embassy in Washington, is believed to be close to both Indyk and Ross, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported.
Under the Sharm el-Sheik agreement signed in September, the Israelis and Palestinians set a five-month deadline for reaching a framework agreement with the aim of concluding an accord in a year.
Meanwhile, a group of rabbis convened in Tel Aviv this week to condemn the transfer of any part of Israel. The same group had issued a religious edict against the territorial concessions negotiated by former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The chairman of the Knesset warned that similar decrees could lead to violence.