Hillel Newman, who previously served as Israel’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, will replace Sam Grundwerg.
By HERB KEINONUpdated: FEBRUARY 12, 2019 06:25Downtown Los Angeles. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
One of the Foreign Ministry’s plum postings – consul-general in Los Angeles responsible for the southwestern United States – will return to the ranks of professional diplomats as the ministry announced the appointment Monday of Hillel Newman to that post.Newman, who previously served as Israel’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, will replace Sam Grundwerg, who was a political appointment made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2016. Netanyahu appointed Grundwerg as chairman of Keren Hayesod–United Israel Appeal in October. Under law, the foreign minister is allowed 11 political appointments.Newman is currently a special adviser to Foreign Ministry director-general Yuval Rotem and the head of the ministry’s Jewish communities department.The ministry’s appointments committee also named Mordechai Rodgold as Israel’s new ambassador to Austria. Rodgold, director of the ministry’s information and visual media department, previously served in Rome and Bern. In addition, Eli Belotsercovsky, a former ambassador to Ukraine, was named non-resident ambassador to Armenia and Moldova.The appointments will now go to the cabinet for final approval.
