US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the appointment of former Rabbi Arieh Lightstone as a special envoy to accelerate economic normalization between Israel and Arab and Islamic countries, about three weeks before the end of President Donald Trump's term.
Pompeo said, in a statement, that the appointment of Lightstone aims to represent US interests in the normalization of economic relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, Kosovo and Morocco.
Pompeo expressed his confidence that this would encourage other countries to join the normalization agreements with Israel.
Lightstone worked as a rabbi in the Jewish community in New York, before joining President Trump's team during his first election campaign in 2016, then he was appointed as an advisor to the American ambassador to Israel, after which he was assigned the responsibility of the so-called Abraham Fund as part of the so-called deal of the century to revitalize the economy between Israel and the printing press.
Great profile of Aryeh Lightstone an important member of the team.
Https: //t.co/W63LFNyRl6
- Avi Berkowitz (@ aviberkow45) December 31, 2020
White House Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz wrote a tweet welcoming Rabbi Lightstone as part of the Trump administration.
After decades of official rejection of any public relations with Israel, the past year has witnessed an acceleration of the announcement of normalization, starting with the Emirates on August 13th, passing through Bahrain on September 11th, then Sudan on October 23rd, and reaching Morocco. On the 11th of last December.