Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Yechiel Leiter, a long-time advocate for the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, as Israel’s ambassador to the United States.
Leiter, a close associate of Netanyahu, previously served as his chief of staff when Netanyahu was finance minister. He was also an aide to the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon when he was a member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
“Yechiel Leiter is a highly capable diplomat, an eloquent speaker and possesses a deep understanding of American culture and politics,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Leiter, who will replace Michael Herzog as ambassador, was born in the US and moved to Israel four decades later. He resides in the Eli settlement, north of Ramallah, and founded the US-based charity One Israel Fund, which provides security equipment and financial assistance to settlements.
Leiter has previously called for the annexation of the West Bank in an article published in 2020, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. He has consistently supported Jewish settlements over the years, particularly in Hebron.
Israel Ganz, the head of the Yesha Council, the umbrella body for Jewish settlements in the West Bank, also welcomed Leiter’s appointment.
Ganz called Leiter “a key partner in English-language advocacy for Judea and Samaria”, a term many Israelis use to refer to the West Bank, which Israel illegally occupied during the 1967 conflict.
Haaretz reported that in his youth, Leiter was a member of the Jewish Defence League, which was founded in the US by the far-right rabbi Meir Kahane. The group was later designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, although the designation was lifted in 2022 due to inactivity.
Leiter’s son was killed last year in Gaza while serving with the Israeli military.
Leiter’s appointment came just three days after Donald Trump’s election as US president. During his first term, Trump reversed decades of US policy that considered Israeli settlements in the West Bank a violation of international law.
Under Trump, Israel aggressively expanded its settlement building, pushing deeper into the West Bank and constructing thousands of settler homes on Palestinian land.
Trump also recognised Israel’s control over the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory that Israel annexed in 1981 in a move the international community has never recognised.
Israel’s settler leaders and far-right figures welcomed Trump’s victory, particularly after the Biden administration imposed sanctions and asset freezes on settler groups and individuals involved in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Leiter’s appointment suggests that Netanyahu plans to advance policies in line with the settler movement’s agenda, which includes the annexation of the West Bank.
