President Barack Obama has nominated his senior White House aide Daniel Shapiro as new US ambassador to Israel. In Tel Aviv, Shapiro – who currently serves as senior director for the Middle East and North Africa on Obama's National Security Council - will succeed James Cunningham. Shapiro is well known in the region and has frequently engaged both Israeli and Palestinian leaders on delegations led by America's Middle East envoy George Mitchell. He speaks fluent Hebrew and reportedly has good relations with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Shapiro has also been a key point of contact between Obama and the American Jewish community, amid disquiet over Obama's strategy in the Middle East.
Washington has insisted that despite the turmoil in the Arab world the US administration would not give up its bid to help Israeli and the Palestinians negotiate peace and a two-state solution. Obama has expressed hopes that in the long term, Arab youth will seek to channel their energy into building their own new states rather than into efforts to destabilize Israel or attack its legitimacy.
James Cunningham, the current US ambassador to Israel, is a career diplomat and has been in Tel Aviv since August 2008. Shapiro’s nomination still has to be endorsed by the US Senate.
