Knesset, president bid farewell to US envoy, an ‘island of stability’

President Reuven Rivlin and the Knesset’s Lobby for US-Israel Relations on Tuesday separately hosted outgoing American Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, to bid farewell to the envoy and thank him for his service in the Jewish state.

The meetings came less than a month after the US decided to abstain on an anti-settlements resolution at the United Nations Security Council, allowing it to pass and prompting a furious response from Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned Shapiro for a dressing-down at the time and has relentlessly accused Washington of orchestrating and advancing the resolution, something the White House has repeatedly denied.

Meeting at the President’s Residence, Rivlin gave Shapiro a parting letter for US President Barack Obama, thanking him for his support for Israel’s defense, even as he acknowledged occasional “differences of opinion” between the two allies.

The US and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding in September, outlining an American defense aid package for the Jewish state to the tune of $38 billion over the next decade.

In the letter, Rivlin thanked Obama “for your continuing concern over the last eight years, for Israel’s safety and our ability to carry the burden of security. You ensured that we could always feel confident that our needs in this area were a priority for your administration.”

He wrote: “While from time to time we may have had differences of opinion, you stood strong in the defense of the shared values of our two peoples and countries, and for this we are deeply appreciative.”

Here's the farewell letter Israel's @PresidentRuvi Rivlin wrote to @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/OTu24N5y5r

— Raphael Ahren (@RaphaelAhren) January 17, 2017

According to a statement from Rivlin’s office, Shapiro in turn conveyed to the Israeli president “deep gratitude to you for your leadership, for your friendship, for the good advice and support you have given me personally, and you have given to our efforts led by President Obama and our whole administration, to work with the Israeli government and make this relationship as strong as it can possibly be.”

During the Knesset event on Tuesday afternoon, Speaker Yuli Edelstein hailed Shapiro as an “anchor” in a frequently rocky relationship between Washington and Jerusalem.

“In the relationship between countries and in politics it’s never black and white and there were better periods, and less good ones,” said Edelstein at the event. “We could paint an excellent picture of assistance and planes and military assistance agreements, or we could discuss the less successful meetings. But many here, it doesn’t matter from which side [of the political spectrum], felt you were an anchor and an island of stability.”

Shapiro told the Israeli lawmakers that when the history books are written, it will be clear that “the ties between Washington and Israel grew stronger in the past years,” according to Israel Radio.

Disagreements between countries as close as Israel and the United States are “natural,” he is quoted as saying.

President-elect Donald Trump has appointed a new US envoy to Israel, David Friedman, who is expected to take up his post in February or March. Shapiro, who is Jewish and fluent in Hebrew, was appointed to his post in July 2011.

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog told Shapiro his tenure as ambassador left him “with a taste for more.”

His fellow Zionist Union party member Nachman Shai, who heads the Knesset lobby, said he “knows this is one of the most complicated and challenging jobs in the US foreign service.”

“It doesn’t have a moment of quiet or a modicum of boredom,” said Shai.

“I’m waiting for the book,” he added.

Shapiro will remain in Israel after he ends his term, allowing his three daughters to complete the school year before returning to the US.