Netanyahu Appoints Danny Dayan as Consul General in New York

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who also serves as Foreign Minister, has decided to appoint Danny Dayan as the Israeli Consul General in New York.

He will replace Foreign Ministry career official Ido Aharoni, who is completing his term.

Netanyahu had nominated Dayan to be his envoy to Brazil last August, a move that caused a standoff with Brazil as Dayan was a former head of the Yesha Council, a representative body of Jewish communities in Yehudah and Shomron.

In January, the Brazilian president’s adviser on foreign affairs Marco Aurelio Garcia said Dayan’s nomination was “a false step” by Israel.

Garcia said that Dayan is known to hold opinions contrary to two points of Brazilian policy — its condemnation of the Jewish communities in Yehudah and Shomron and its support of a future Palestinian state.

Netanyahu had initially vowed to stand firm on Argentine-born Dayan’s nomination – even at the cost of downgrading relations with Brazil – lest his rejection undermine the Jewish communities in Yehudah and Shomron.

But Netanyahu said in a brief statement on Monday that Dayan would instead serve as consul-general in New York, a post that focuses Israeli outreach to American Jews and business sectors.

“I don’t think that we folded. There was no choice,” Dayan told Israel’s Army Radio when asked about the new appointment. “Those that did not want us in Brasilia, ended up getting us in New York, the capital of the world.”

Dayan previously argued that should Brazil succeed in excluding him, it could create a precedent barring residents of Yehudah and Shomron from representing Israel abroad.

Israel has a considerable role in providing avionics technology for Brazil’s aerospace and defense industry.