Cabinet to approve Erdan as ambassador to UN on Sunday
Erdan will be replaced in his current role by MK Ophir Akunis
By GIL HOFFMANGilad Erdan attends a cabinet meeting, December 2019.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The cabinet is set to approve the appointment of Regional Cooperation Minister Gilad Erdan as ambassador to the United Nations on Sunday.Erdan will be replaced in his current role by MK Ophir Akunis, whose appointment will also come to the cabinet for approval.The cabinet will also approve the extension of the term of Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer until after the US presidential inauguration in January, when Erdan will take that post as well.“Happy Independence Day to Israel’s greatest friend and ally,” Erdan tweeted on Saturday. “I’m looking forward to being there very soon and hope we’ll be able to celebrate in full next year.”After his appointment is approved by the Knesset on Monday, Erdan is expected to quit the Knesset. Settlement Affairs Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who is set to become ambassador to the United Kingdom in mid-August, already quit the Knesset on Thursday at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.The departures of Hotovely and Erdan will result in the next two MKs on the Likud list entering the Knesset, Ariel Kallner and Osnat Mark. Mark is set to join the judicial selection committee, which is set to convene at the end of the week.Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman sharply attacked both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz on Saturday’s Meet the Press program on Channel 12.“Diapers and prime ministers have to be replaced every once in a while for the same reason,” Liberman said.He said that Gantz, who is supposed to replace Netanyahu in November 2021 according to the coalition agreement, “has a better chance of becoming prime minister of Mongolia than prime minister of Israel.”
