Cabinet approves Ofir Akunis as next consul-general in New York

Position has remained vacant since Asaf Zamir resigned last year in protest of judicial overhaul; science minister replaced by Gila Gamliel, whose ministry is being shuttered

By ToI Staff 17 March 2024, 3:11 pmUpdated at 4:02 pm

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Ofir Akunis attending a conference in Tel Aviv, January 17, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The cabinet approved on Sunday the appointment of Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis as the next consul-general in New York.

“I am heading out with my head held high as a Jew, a Zionist and an Israeli – in that order,” Akunis said after his appointment was announced.

“Serving the State of Israel and the Jewish people is the most important mission that a person can ask for, particularly at this [difficult] time,” he added.

Last year, Akunis canceled his attendance at an event in California because of anti-judicial overhaul protesters expected at the venue.

Initially elected to the Knesset in 2009, Akunis has also served as labor minister and regional cooperation minister. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unsuccessfully tried to appoint Akunis as justice minister in 2021.

The Likud lawmaker will be replaced by Gila Gamliel, whose Intelligence Ministry was recently closed in keeping with a Finance Ministry recommendation in an effort to cover the wartime budget.

Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel at a conference in Jerusalem, on February 25, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

“This is a very important junction,” Netanyahu said to Akunis on Sunday, following his approval for the new role. “There is massive advocacy work, a big war, both in New York and throughout the US, which is of course the most important arena.”

“Defend the truth and it will protect us,” he instructed Akunis.

In his own remarks, Akunis said that “unity in the ranks is the key to success in Israel and in the Diaspora,” adding that “there is no struggle as justified as Israel’s struggle for contemporary historical truth. All things considered, the struggle is for our very existence.”

The position of New York consul-general has remained unfilled since Asaf Zamir announced his resignation last March over the government’s contentious judicial overhaul.

Zamir was appointed consul-general by the previous government led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. Last month, he was elected deputy mayor of Tel Aviv.