Netanyahu promotes genocide and annexation with his choice of Leiter as Israeli ambassador to the US
Promoting genocide and colonial expansion remain high on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s agenda, and Donald Trump’s forthcoming return to the White House is a reminder of all Israel gained under his first presidency. Netanyahu’s choice for ambassador to the US – Israeli-American Yechiel Leiter – encapsulates both genocide and settler-colonial expansion.
“Yechiel Leiter is a highly talented diplomat, an eloquent speaker, and has a deep understanding of American culture and politics,” Netanyahu stated. “I am convinced that Yechiel will represent Israel in the best way possible, and I wish him success in his role.”
The success Netanyahu envisages is no doubt linked to Israel’s ongoing genocide and colonial expansion in the occupied West Bank. In November 2023, Leiter’s son, Moshe Yedidya, was killed in Gaza. At his son’s funeral, Leiter read out a letter in English addressed to US President Joe Biden. Emphasising that the point of the letter was not to share bereavement emotions, Leiter warned the US to avoid pressuring Israel to retreat from Gaza. “Stand back Mr. President: don’t pressure us,’ Leiter asserted. “Let us do what we know how to do, indeed what we must do, to defeat evil.” Repeating Netanyahu’s rhetoric, Leiter said that his son died “fighting against Hamas-ISIS.” A simple falsehood which, in the Israel narrative, is enough to gloss over genocide.
Leiter’s political career is littered with examples of promoting Israeli colonialism through such twisted frameworks, and his allegiances say more about Israeli state and settler-terror.
Born in the US and having settled in Israel 40 years ago, Leiter’s political career includes serving as Chief of Staff in Israel’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Director General of Israel’s Education Ministry. As a Knesset member, Leiter was also an aide to former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
In his youth, Leiter was a member of the Jewish Defence League (JDL), which was outlawed by the FBI and designated a terrorist organisation until 2022. The JDL was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was convicted of terrorist related attacks in the US. Kahane later moved to Israel and started advocating for the expulsion of Palestinians from Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Leiter also founded the One Israel Fund in 1994, which works with Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and with the IDF in providing security equipment. One Israel Fund uses the rhetoric of Israel’s purported (and non-existent) vulnerability to create the image of a helpless, defenceless people, despite settlers in the occupied West Bank enjoying complete protection from the IDF.
In 2023, Leiter penned an article calling for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, on the pretext of the PA allegedly advocating for terrorism. According to Leiter, the PA is responsible for inciting global antisemitism, illegal construction in Area C, delegitimising Israel and “institutional corruption that harms the Palestinian population”. Coming from an individual who implored Biden to allow Israel to continue the genocide in Gaza, this purported concern for Palestinians’ suffering under the PA’s institutional corruption only feeds into the Israeli narrative of annexation of the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu has opted to appoint an ambassador that is pro-genocide and pro-annexation. In his first presidency, Trump portrayed and proved himself aligned with Israeli interests, although the Abraham Accords temporarily staved off the formal annexation of territory in the occupied West Bank.
The context now, however, is different. On one hand, Trump has declared the intention to end all wars in the Middle East, albeit with the usual vague rhetoric that leaves more questions than provides answers. If one had to assess what Trump and Jared Kushner uttered a few months ago, the consensus would be that genocide is profitable for both Israel and the US.
While the focus on Gaza remains paramount, the occupied West Bank cannot be forgotten. The increase in Israeli state and settler violence, as well as repression against Palestinians involved in resistance, could indicate that the PA might be facing unprecedented violence from Israel under the pretext of eradicating terrorism. Netanyahu had stated that the PA also wants Israel’s gradual demise, which means that the illusory symbolic state-building funded by the international community, notably the EU, will not stand a chance if Israel decides it is time to mete out the same fate.
Annexation, as former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman regularly reminded, was suspended, not permanently halted. Netanyahu’s appointment of Leiter makes it clear that annexation is back on the agenda, while the genocide in Gaza continues unabated. Employing ethnic cleansing through different methods will also have the international community less focused on what is happening in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
While the international community has completely normalised ethnic cleansing, Netanyahu knows that so far the occupied West Bank remains the last standing international project allegedly promoting economic stability and good governance in Palestine. Annexation, whether formal or de-facto, will not evoke criticism, because the veneer of the Abraham Accords remains in place both to further Israel’s relations with corrupt Arab leaders, as well as allow Israel to stand on a par with the West’s projected ideals on the West Bank. This is reminiscent of the attitude towards the two-state compromise – there is tacit consensus it will never be applied, but its existence provides impunity for Israel and the international community, as Palestinians continue to be expelled from their lands through various methods.
Leiter will certainly be in a position to advocate for both of Netanyahu’s ethnic cleansing plans. Since Operation Protective Ends in 2014, Netanyahu bided his time for a much bigger devastation for Palestinians which found no opposition from the international community. With Gaza almost completely destroyed and its population forbidden from returning to the North, Leiter’s appointment might signify Netanyahu setting his sights on the West Bank which will have disastrous consequences for the Palestinian people. Conversely, Leiter’s position will also further Netanyahu’s rhetoric of eliminating Hamas and ethnically cleansing Gaza of all Palestinians – a view which the HaGvurah Forum, of which Leiter is a member, advocates for.
All in all, Netanyahu is placing his bets on making more gains in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. What remains to be seen is, what is Trump’s vision of ending all wars in the Middle East? If the Israeli-US alliance remains as “iron-clad” as ever, genocide and annexation will find permanent representation in Washington through Leiter.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.