List of ambassadors of the United States to Israel
The United States Ambassador to Israel is the official representative of the President of the United States to the head of state of Israel.
Until 1948 the area that is now the state of Israel had been under British administration as part of the League of Nations/United Nations British Mandate for Palestine. On May 14, 1948, the British government unilaterally terminated the mandate. On the same day, the Jewish Agency, under future Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, declared independence and named the country Israel. The United States immediately recognized the nation and moved to establish diplomatic relations. The first U.S. ambassador commissioned to Israel was James Grover McDonald, who presented his credentials to the government of Israel on March 28, 1949.
The embassy of the United States in Israel is located on 14 David Flusser Street in Jerusalem.Ambassadors and chiefs of mission
Ref:
- James Grover McDonald – Political appointee
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: March 18, 1949
- *Presented credentials: March 28, 1949
- *Terminated mission: Left post December 13, 1950
- Monnett Bain Davis – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: February 1, 1951
- *Presented credentials: February 26, 1951
- *Terminated mission: Died at post December 26, 1953
- Edward B. Lawson – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: April 9, 1954
- *Presented credentials: November 12, 1954
- *Terminated mission: Left post February 17, 1959
- Ogden Rogers Reid – Political Appointee
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: June 5, 1959
- *Presented credentials: July 2, 1959
- *Terminated mission: Left Israel January 19, 1961
- Walworth Barbour – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: May 11, 1961
- *Presented credentials: June 12, 1961
- *Terminated mission: Left post January 19, 1973
- Kenneth B. Keating – Political appointee
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: June 22, 1973
- *Presented credentials: August 28, 1973
- *Terminated mission: Died in New York May 5, 1975
- Malcolm Toon – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: June 9, 1975
- *Presented credentials: July 10, 1975
- *Terminated mission: Left post December 27, 1976
- Samuel W. Lewis – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: April 26, 1977
- *Presented credentials: May 25, 1977
- *Terminated mission: May 31, 1985
- Thomas R. Pickering – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: July 12, 1985
- *Presented credentials: August 6, 1985
- *Terminated mission: Left post December 28, 1988
- William Andreas Brown – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: November 22, 1988
- *Presented credentials: December 29, 1988
- *Terminated mission: Left post January 7, 1992
- William Caldwell Harrop – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: November 21, 1991
- *Presented credentials: January 21, 1992
- *Terminated mission: Left post May 7, 1993
- Edward Djerejian – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: November 22, 1993
- *Presented credentials: January 13, 1994
- *Terminated mission: Left post August 9, 1994
- Martin Indyk – Political appointee
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: March 4, 1995
- *Presented credentials: April 10, 1995
- *Terminated mission: September 27, 1997
- Edward S. Walker, Jr. – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: November 10, 1997
- *Presented credentials: December 24, 1997
- *Terminated mission: Left post January 23, 2000
- Martin Indyk – Political appointee
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: November 16, 1999
- *Presented credentials: January 25, 2000
- *Terminated mission: Left post July 13, 2001
- Daniel C. Kurtzer – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: July 12, 2001
- *Presented credentials: July 18, 2001
- *Terminated mission: Left post July 17, 2005
- Richard Henry Jones – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: August 2, 2005
- *Presented credentials: September 26, 2005
- *Terminated mission: Left post April 27, 2008
- James B. Cunningham – Career FSO
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: June 30, 2008
- *Presented credentials: September 17, 2008
- *Terminated mission:
- Daniel B. Shapiro – Political appointee
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: July 8, 2011
- *Presented credentials: August 3, 2011
- *Terminated mission: January 20, 2017
- David M. Friedman – Political appointee
- *Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- *Appointed: March 23, 2017
- *Presented credentials: May 15, 2017
- *Terminated mission: Incumbent