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' 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 ambassador holds the title Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
The embassy of the United States in Israel is located at 14 David Flusser Street in Jerusalem.
Ambassadors and chiefs of mission +ImageNameAppointedPresented credentialsTerminated missionJames Grover McDonald – Political appointeeMarch 18, 1949March 28, 1949December 13, 1950Monnett Bain Davis – Career FSOFebruary 1, 1951February 26, 1951Died at post December 26, 1953Edward B. Lawson – Career FSOApril 9, 1954November 12, 1954February 17, 1959Ogden Rogers Reid – Political AppointeeJune 5, 1959July 2, 1959Left Israel January 19, 1961Walworth Barbour – Career FSOMay 11, 1961June 12, 1961January 19, 1973Kenneth B. Keating – Political appointeeJune 22, 1973August 28, 1973Died in New York May 5, 1975Ambassador Keating had departed Tel Aviv on March 31, 1975 for consultations on the reassessment of American policy in the Middle East and died in New York on May 5.Malcolm Toon – Career FSOJune 9, 1975July 10, 1975December 27, 1976Samuel W. Lewis – Career FSOApril 26, 1977May 25, 1977May 31, 1985Thomas R. Pickering – Career FSOJuly 12, 1985August 6, 1985December 28, 1988William Andreas Brown – Career FSOBrown was commissioned during a recess of the Senate; his nomination of May 24, 1988 had not been acted upon by the Senate. He was recommissioned October 2, 1989 after confirmation.November 22, 1988December 29, 1988January 7, 1992William Caldwell Harrop – Career FSONovember 21, 1991January 21, 1992May 7, 1993Edward Djerejian – Career FSONovember 22, 1993January 13, 1994August 9, 1994Martin Indyk – Political appointeeMarch 4, 1995April 10, 1995September 27, 1997Edward S. Walker, Jr. – Career FSONovember 10, 1997December 24, 1997January 23, 2000Martin Indyk – Political appointeeNovember 16, 1999January 25, 2000July 13, 2001Daniel C. Kurtzer – Career FSOJuly 12, 2001July 18, 2001July 17, 2005Richard Henry Jones – Career FSOAugust 2, 2005September 26, 2005April 27, 2008James B. Cunningham – Career FSOJune 30, 2008September 17, 2008May 21, 2011Daniel B. Shapiro – Political appointeeJuly 8, 2011August 3, 2011January 20, 2017David M. Friedman – Political appointeeMarch 23, 2017May 15, 2017January 20, 2021Thomas R. Nides – Political appointeeNovember 3, 2021December 5, 2021July 21, 2023Jack Lew – Political appointeeOctober 31, 2023November 5, 2023January 20, 2025 Mike Huckabee – Political appointee April 9, 2025 April 21, 2025 List source:
Notes
See also List of ambassadors of Israel to the United States Embassy of the United States, Jerusalem Israel - United States relations Foreign relations of Israel Ambassadors of the United States
References United States Department of State: Background notes on Israel
External links United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for Israel United States Department of State: Israel United States Embassy in Jerusalem