Itongadol.- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also holds the Foreign Minister post, announced on Friday that he was appointing Minister of Science Technology and Space Danny Danon to be Israel\’s next ambassador to the UN.
"Danon has agreed to take on an important challenge that I proposed for him. The United Nations is an important forum right now and I am sure that Danny will represent the truth with full force in the international arena," Netanyahu said.
Danon thanked Netanyahu for giving him the trust to represent Israel during what he called a "challenging period."
"I will do everything to advance Israel\’s just positions," Danon said.
The Zionist Union responded to Danon\’s appointment by saying "Houston we have a problem," in reference to his current post as Science Technology and Space Minister.
"The appointment of Space Minister Danon as ambassador to the UN is another nail in the coffin that Bibi is putting in Israel\’s foreign relations. The Prime Minister is acting to find jobs for Likudniks instead of the strategic leader that Israel needs," a statement released by the party read.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog called Danon\’s appointment cynical and one made by a small minded politician. Herzog said that Danon\’s views would lead Israel to international isolation.
Danon opposes a Palestinian state, and was in favor of a more forceful Israeli offensive in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge. Danon has also stated that he doesn\’t believe that the Palestinian people exist.
Erel Margalit from the Zionist Union also came out against the appointment, calling Danon, a right-wing extremist with the diplomatic sensitivity of a pitbull.
Following Netanyahu\’s announcement, Tzachi Hanegbi, who is the head of the coalition and the Likud faction in the Knesset, said that he wanted to be appointed to the vacancy that Danon leaves in the cabinet and the chairmanship of the Likud Central Committee, a post Hanegbi held for eight years before he left for Kadima.
Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev also said on Friday that she intended to run to be Likud Central Committee chairwoman.
Confrontation with Netanyahu during Gaza war
Netanyahu, last July during Operation Protective Edge attempted to silence his critics on the Right by firing Danon. At the time of the dismissal Danon was serving as deputy defense minister.
The decision came after Netanyahu was attacked for his decision to accept an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Hamas. In addition to Danon, he faced sharp criticism from Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman, Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennett, and other politicians inside the Likud.
But Netanyahu’s associates said at the time Danon had crossed a redline by saying on a visit to the South that Hamas had humiliated Israel and was once again setting conditions for Israel’s policies.
A source close to Netanyahu said that such a statement, coming from Israel’s deputy defense minister, had emboldened Hamas and harmed Israel’s deterrence.
Netanyahu said that if Danon lacked confidence in his own government, he should have resigned.
Because Danon did not quit, the prime minister said he had no choice but to fire him.