Yechiel Leiter

{{Short description|Israeli historian and analyst and Israeli ambassador to the US}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Yechiel Leiter

| native_name = {{No bold|{{Script/Hebrew|יחיאל לייטר}}}}

| native_name_lang = he

| image = File:Yechiel Leiter.jpg

| office = Israeli Ambassador to the United States

| term_start = January 27, 2025

| term_end =

| primeminister = {{plainlist|1=

Benjamin Netanyahu}}

| predecessor = Michael Herzog

| successor =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|10|1|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Likud

| citizenship = United States • Israel

| spouse =

| children = 8

| caption = Leiter in 2023

| otherparty = Jewish Defense League (formerly)

| alma_mater = University of Haifa

}}

Yechiel "Michael" Leiter ({{langx|he|יחיאל לייטר}}; born October 1, 1959) is an American-born Israeli historian of philosophy, public policy analyst, rabbi and settlement activist.{{Cite web |title=Netanyahu taps former official, settlement activist Yechiel Leiter as next US ambassador {{!}} The Times of Israel |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-taps-former-official-settlement-activist-yechiel-leiter-as-next-us-ambassador/amp/ |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=www.timesofisrael.com}} He is a resident scholar at the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem.[http://www.herzlinstitute.org Yechiel Leiter], herzlinstitute.org On January 27, 2025, he assumed the position of Israeli ambassador to the United States.{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/yechiel-leiter-takes-up-post-as-new-ambassador-to-us/|title=Yechiel Leiter takes up post as new ambassador to US|publisher= The Times of Israel|date=January 27, 2025|first=Jacob |last=Magid}} He previously served as chief of staff to Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli Ministry of Finance and as political assistant{{vague|date=August 2024}} to Ariel Sharon in the Israeli parliament. An ordained rabbi, Leiter has written three books and numerous essays on the politics of the Middle East. He is affiliated with the Kohelet Policy Forum.{{cite news |author= Amir Tibon |author2= Ben Samuels |title= Netanyahu Appoints Yechiel Leiter as Israel's Ambassador to U.S. Hardline Settler, Ex-member of Far-right Kahanist Group |newspaper=Haaretz |date= 8 November 2024 |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-11-08/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-picks-yechiel-leiter-as-ambassador-to-u-s-settler-ex-member-of-kahanist-group/00000193-0c1a-d3a2-a3d7-4f5b295d0000 |access-date= 8 November 2024}}

Early life and education

Yechiel Leiter was born on 1 October 1959 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.{{cn |date= November 2024}} The newspaper Haaretz claimed that as a youth, Leiter was active in the far-right Jewish Defense League led by Rabbi Meir Kahane, and emigrated to Israel together with other activists from that organization.{{cite news |author= Berman, Lazar |title= Netanyahu taps former official, settlement activist Yechiel Leiter as next US ambassador |newspaper=Times of Israel |date= 8 November 2024 |url= https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-taps-former-official-settlement-activist-yechiel-leiter-as-next-us-ambassador/ |access-date= 8 November 2024}} He arrived in Israel in 1978 at the age of eighteen, served as a combat medic in the Israeli Defense Forces and participated in the 1982 Lebanon War.{{cn |date= November 2024}}

Leiter holds an undergraduate degree in law, a Bachelor of Arts in political science, a Master of Arts in international relations, and a PhD in political philosophy from the University of Haifa. His doctoral thesis focuses on the influence of the Hebrew Bible on John Locke's theory of consensual government. He studied Judaism over the course of eight years and subsequently taught Judaism at a number of centers for higher learning in Jerusalem.{{cn |date= November 2024}}

Career

Leiter served as a political advisor to Knesset member Ariel Sharon and in multiple senior government positions: first as deputy director general of the Israeli Ministry of Education, where he helped plan a major overhaul of the educational system, and then as chief of staff to Benjamin Netanyahu in the Ministry of Finance, where he took an active role in economic reforms.{{clarify|date=August 2024}}

Leiter subsequently became a senior policy analyst[http://jcpa.org/researcher/yechiel-leiter/ Yechiel Leiter], Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, where he directed and edited a geopolitical blog. In that capacity, he was a frequent guest on Israeli news programs and a contributor to such Israeli media outlets such as YNet, Maariv-NRG, and Yisrael Hayom.

In 2008, Leiter ran{{cite web|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128612#.UU1cczfc84c|title=Likud Candidate From Samaria: 'Annex Regions in Yesha'|publisher=israelnationalnews.com}} as a candidate for election to the Knesset in the Likud Party's primaries.

He has served as the chief executive officer of 3H Global,[http://www.3hge.com Dr Yechiel (Michael) Leiter], 3hge.com an international consultancy group specializing in aiding governments to formulate and implement policy.

In 2011, he was elected chairman of Israel Ports Authority. In that capacity he was responsible for the planning of Israel's seaport operations and the building of two new deep-water ports in Ashdod and Haifa.

Leiter taught political philosophy in the law faculty at the Ono Academic College in Kiryat Ono. He is strategic advisor to the Foundation for the Archaeological Exploration, Restoration and Expansion of Ancient Shiloh.

Leiter has served as a member of the board of governors of the University of Judea and Samaria in Ariel and as a director on the National Committee for the Perpetuation of the Memory of Theodor Herzl. He serves on the board of directors of The Israel Experience, a subsidiary of the Jewish Agency for Israel, which manages the "Taglit-Birthright" program in Israel.

Leiter has authored three books and dozens of articles on Zionism and Israeli politics and has lectured extensively to audiences throughout the United States, Canada, England, Australia, South Africa, and South America.

Personal life

For many years he resided in West Bank settlement Eli with his wife and their eight children. In recent years he has lived in Alon Shevut. His son, Major (Res.) Moshe Yedidia Leiter, a medical graduate,{{clarify|date=August 2024}} served as a platoon commander in the Shaldag Unit and was killed in the northern Gaza Strip in 2023 in the Gaza war.{{Cite news |last=זיתון |first=יואב |last2=חדד |first2=תמר טרבלסי |last3=קימון |first3=אלישע בן |date=2023-11-11 |title=אסון בבית חאנון: קצין ו-3 לוחמים נהרגו מפיר ממולכד ליד מסגד, 4 נפצעו קשה |language=he |work=Ynet |url=https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/h1gbuet7t |access-date=2023-11-11}}

Bibliography

John Locke's Political Philosophy and the Hebrew Bible, 2018, Cambridge University Press{{cite journal |last1=Nuovo |first1=Victor |title=John Locke's Political Philosophy and the Hebrew Bible (book review) |journal=Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews |date=3 September 2018 |url=https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/john-lockes-political-philosophy-and-the-hebrew-bible/ |access-date=4 October 2018}}
Aloh Naaleh - 'The Aliyah Imperative' (1988), in Hebrew{{cite book|last=Leiter|first=Yechiel M.|author-link=Yechiel Leiter|title=עלה נעלה|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8S_HOAAACAAJ|year=1988|publisher=מחדשי היישוב היהודי בחברון|page=226}}
A Peace to Resist: Why the Rabin-Arafat Deal Must Be Stopped, and How It Can Be Done (1993){{cite book |last=Leiter |first=Yechiel M. |author-link=Yechiel Leiter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KhfRGwAACAAJ |title=A Peace to Resist: Why the Rabin-Arafat Deal Must Be Stopped, and How It Can Be Done |publisher=Yesha Council Foreign Desk ; New York |year=1994 |page=65}} [https://www.amazon.com/Peace-Resist-Rabin-Arafat-Stopped/dp/B0056FPJ2I]
Crisis in Israel (1994){{cite book |last=Leiter |first=Yechiel |author-link=Yechiel Leiter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rija4NqQj-sC |title=Crisis in Israel |publisher=SP Books |year=1994 |isbn=1561713384 |page=224}} ([https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1561713384])
Israel at the cross-roads: The view from the hills of Judea and Samaria (1999){{cite book |last=Leiter |first=Yechiel M. |author-link=Yechiel Leiter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BLBUGwAACAAJ |title=Israel at the Cross-roads: The View from the Hills of Judea and Samaria |publisher=One Israel Fund |year=1999 |page=133}} [https://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Yechiel+Leiter&x=0&y=0]
Between Despair and Hope: Public Perceptions of Educational Reform (2005)
Political Views from Above (2008), in Hebrew
The Political Hebraism of John Locke: A New-Old Reading of the Two Treatises of Government (2008){{cite web|url=http://jcpa.org/article/the-hebraic-roots-of-john-lockes-doctrine-of-charity/|title=The Hebraic Roots of John Locke's Doctrine of Charity|last=Yechiel Leiter|date=Fall 2008|publisher=Jewish Political Studies Review 20:3-4|access-date=3 May 2015}}