Why did Netanyahu appoint a settler as top NY diplomat?

Once again, the Israeli right wing is correct in claiming that the left has taken control of the media. In late May, Israeli media outlets disseminated the following left-wing statement: “The Arab Peace Initiative contains positive elements that could help revive constructive negotiations with the Palestinians. … We are willing to negotiate with the Arab states revisions to that initiative so that it reflects the dramatic changes in our region since 2002, but maintains the agreed goal of two states for two peoples.” For those who have forgotten, the peace initiative is based on the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 border lines (with possible land swaps) and does not mention the term “Jewish state.”

The above remarks were spoken by none other than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the ceremony anointing Avigdor Liberman as defense minister on May 31. The leader of Yisrael Beitenu, a party not known for its leftist leanings, gave the prime minister’s declaration of diplomacy his full-throated support. “I want to remind people that for many years … I spoke more than once about recognizing, that same solution of two states for two peoples,” Liberman told listeners. He added, “[Egyptian] President [Fattah] al-Sisi's speech was very important and has created a genuine opportunity. We must try to pick up the gauntlet.”

Naturally, Israel’s official representatives are required to present this position at home and abroad. It therefore stands to reason that a government that advocates a two-state solution would not entrust an important diplomatic mission to a citizen who declares his out-and-out opposition to said solution. Sending a former senior official of the Judea and Samaria Settlement Council to encourage US Jews to support the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria is almost like appointing anti-Zionist, Israeli Arab Knesset member Haneen Zoabi of the Joint List as a Jewish Agency representative to encourage diaspora Jewry to move to Israel. Once again, however, Israeli fact trumps fiction.

On Aug. 1, Dani Dayan, a veteran West Bank settler, assumed his position as Israeli consul general in New York. He was awarded the coveted position after the Brazilian government refused to accept his appointment as Israel’s ambassador because he is a resident of an occupied territory. (Of note, in 2006 the George W. Bush administration confirmed the nomination of Sali Meridor, a resident of the Kfar Adumim settlement, as Israel’s ambassador to Washington.) Unlike with ambassadors, the appointment of a consul does not require the approval of the host government.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/08/dani-dayan-consul-general-new-york-netanyahu-two-state.html#ixzz4GdYL5psX