Foreign Minister Pompeo announces the official appointment of Rabbi Lightstone as special envoy on behalf of the administration to promote normalization • State Department official: "We will seize every opportunity"
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced tonight (Friday) the official appointment of Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone as a special envoy on behalf of the administration to advance normalization and the economy.
Lightstone has served for four years as chief of staff and as a senior adviser to U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
Photo: GPO
The official announcement of the appointment, about three weeks before the end of Trump's term, comes in fact about three months after Lightstone has already filled the actual position.
Since the historic phone call between President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the heir to the United Arab Emirates, Muhammad bin Zayed, Lightstone has played a key role in mediating between the countries with which Israel has signed peace or series agreements: the Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Kosovo and Morocco.
"As a special envoy, Lightstone will contribute to the speed and efficiency of the normalization process and generate momentum for the Abrahamic Agreements. I am confident that other states will be encouraged to join and solidify the agreements against external parties seeking to challenge them," Pompeo said in a statement.
A State Department source told Israel Today in light of Lightstone's appointment that the administration's peace team intends to "work until the last minute to advance the Abrahamic Accords."
He said, "Even if an opportunity arises on January 20 (the day of the change of government), we will take advantage of it."