Settler leader Dani Dayan appointed ambassador to Brazil
Dayan, a resident of the Ma’aleh Shomron settlement, was the head of the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria from 2007-2013.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFDani Dayan.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Settler leader and Argentina native Dani Dayan was appointed ambassador to Brazil on Wednesday.“I am confident that Dani Dayan will bring to the post his considerable experience and will deepen relations between Israel and Brazil,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.Dayan, a resident of the Ma’aleh Shomron settlement, was the head of the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria from 2007-2013.With his ability to speak Spanish, English, and Hebrew he brought a new international face to the settler council and continued to represent it abroad as a foreign liaison, even after he resigned as its chairman.He was among the top Israeli leaders invited to address the prestigious, American- based Saban Forum.Dayan has been a member of both the Likud and Bayit Yehudi parties. He run unsuccessfully for this Knesset on the Bayit Yehudi’s list.Outside of his political and diplomatic work, Dayan also has a background in hi-tech and is the founder of Elad Systems.“I promised the prime minister that I would spare no effort or creativity in fulfilling the strategic task he has assigned me,” Dayan said. “Even though I did not commit that we would win a gold medal in next year’s Rio Olympics, we all hope that it will happen,” Dayan said.Brazil has 200 million citizens and the Israeli government estimates that 40 million of them are pro-Israel Christians. It is the largest country in Latin America and the seventh largest economy in the world.“Latin America is one of the main objectives of the State of Israel in the context of its efforts to develop markets that will contribute to increasing economic growth,” Netanyahu said.
