Historic First: Israeli Military Officer Appointed to UN Mission

The man sitting behind Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, is none other than an IDF officer with the rank of captain who joined the Israeli delegation team in a special capacity. The IDF attaché to the UN was appointed at the request of the Foreign Ministry to assist in public diplomacy efforts and to strengthen legitimacy for IDF operations in Gaza.

A few days ago, Israel’s UN mission published a photo of Ambassador Danon at the UN Security Council, speaking at the assembly, but in this photo, a captain can be seen sitting behind Ambassador Danon.

According to a report by military correspondent Doron Kadosh, this is the IDF attaché to the UN. This is a new appointment, at the request of the Foreign Ministry, of an IDF officer stationed permanently at Israel’s UN mission, a body that until now had no permanent IDF representative. He began his role a few months ago.

According to the report, the officer’s mission is to assist Israel’s UN mission in strengthening legitimacy for IDF operations in Gaza. According to the IDF: “His role is to assist embassy representatives in public diplomacy efforts on humanitarian issues and to respond to inquiries on the matter.”

In the months following the outbreak of the war, a colonel, Guy Barak, was assigned to the then-ambassador Erdan. In normal times, he served as a military attaché at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, but also served concurrently as the military secretary to the ambassador at the UN during emergencies.