ISRAEL – Jonathan Peled appointed Israel’s new ambassador to Italy

Former Israeli ambassador to Australia, Mexico, and El Salvador, Jonathan “Yoni” Peled, is set to become the Jewish State’s representative to Italy. A seasoned diplomat, Peled will succeed Ambassador Alon Bar, who has reached the age limit for his position. Peled is expected to move to Rome soon and be established before the Jewish New Year. Born in Jerusalem in 1961, he grew up at Kibbutz Neot Mordechai in the Upper Galilee region, which has recently been targeted by Hamas terrorists.
He studied Political Science and Economics at the Tel Aviv University. Throughout his diplomatic career, he has served as spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel and as spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C.
During his tenure as ambassador in Mexico City in 2017, he managed a significant crisis in relations between the two countries. The casus belli was the praise expressed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the project to strengthen a wall at the border between the U.S. and Mexico proposed by then-U.S. President Donald Trump. The Israeli Prime Minister had described it as “a great idea,” highlighting the “success” of the wall built by Israel along its border with Egypt to curb illegal immigration.
Unlike his predecessor Dror Eydar, Peled is a career diplomat like ambassador Alon Bar. Peled was poised to become ambassador in Budapest. However, his position will likely be filled by Benny Kashriel, the former mayor of Maale Adumim (one of the largest Israeli settlements in the West Bank with over 40,000 residents), who was initially nominated by the Jerusalem government for the Rome office. According to Israeli press reports, Kashriel had to step back due to opposition from Italian President Sergio Mattarella.