In what came as a surprise to some, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has announced that he will extend the term of Danny Danon as the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations. The announcement was reported on Ynet in Israel on Tuesday.

Dannon, who has been serving in the post for the past four years, had his term officially end today with the close of the calendar year of 2019. Netanyahu originally decided and announced that he would not extend Dannon’s term, and told the press as much late in the day. The interim plan was that until a new Ambassador can be appointed, the role will be taken over by Dannon’s deputy Noa Forman. Dannon’s term was supposed to have ended in the summer by Netanyahu decided to extend it until the end of the year. something which he announced that he would not do again.

However, Netanyahu asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit whether or not he could appoint a new Ambassador during a transitional government and had not yet received an answer. Netanyahu attempted to appoint Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan to the position but Erdan refused. As the deadline approached, Netanyahu decided to re-extend Dannon’s term of office until May and made the announcement just before 10:00 p.m. Israel time with only two hours to spare.

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