Netanyahu Appoints Hard Right to 'Support Occupy the West Bank' As Next U.S. Ambassador

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed hard-right academic and diplomat Yahiel Leiter as the next Israeli ambassador to the United States.

Netanyahu said Leiter was "a very capable diplomat and a fluent speaker with a deep understanding of the United States" and "I am confident that Yahiel will represent the state of Israel in the best way and wish him success in his position."

Leiter will coordinate U.S.-Israel relations to succeed current Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog, whose term ends on Jan. 20 next year.

Leiter, who was born in the U.S., is a hard-line figure who has insisted on annexing the West Bank into Israeli territory, served as Netanyahu's chief of staff when he was finance minister.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Leiter was a member of an Israeli far-right group that had been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government in the past.

"We will win this war whether you are together or not," he said at his son's funeral last November, when he called on U.S. President Biden to stop trying to pressure Israel to stop the war.

Leiter is also known to have actively supported the "Abraham Agreement," which U.S. President-elect Trump pushed to improve relations between Israel and Arab countries during his presidency.

During his tenure, Trump reversed his previous U.S. position that the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank was against international law.

In response, Israeli far-right figures are arguing that Israel should fully annex the West Bank within Trump's second term.