Mr. Robert (Bobby) Brown, a former resident of the Washington Heights neighborhood of NYC, is a candidate to become the next consul general to New York City. Brown, a shomer shabbos Jew, resident of Yishuv Tekoa, moved to Eretz Yisrael with his wife Linda about 30 years ago. He has served in a senior Jewish Agency post for many years, and was the Diaspora Affairs advisor to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his first term in office. He has been an active player in the Jewish community for decades, serving on advisory boards, boards of directors and working towards enhancing relations between Israel and abroad.
 
PM Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will be making decisions regarding senior overseas posts, ambassador and consul general posts, in New York and Boston, as well as senior appointments to the United Nations.
 
Shai Bazak, a longtime Netanyahu confidant, was in line for the NYC post but objections from within the Likud have put a damper on that appointment according to analysts, but strong support from Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon place him in a top position for an appointment as the consul general to Boston.
 
Brown is well-suited for the senior post, having built and maintained good relations with Diaspora Jewry over the years, a candidate well in tune to the nuances of the fragile political realities that exist today.

Dr. Dore Gold, another shomer shabbat Jew, is currently serving as president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He too served as an advisor to PM Netanyahu during his first term in office. Born in Connecticut, Dr. Gold earned his BA, MA and doctorate from Columbia University. He also served in the past as the Israeli UN ambassador, now being considered for the post again, as is Einat Wilf, who is affiliated with the Labor Party. 
 
Gold has recently returned to the media spotlight, taking a forward position defending Israel against the one-sided Goldstone Report, which portrayed Israel as the villain in the counter-terrorism offensive in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead.
 
The 18 appointments already approved on Sunday include Dorit Gendelman, a Russian-language journalist who is close to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to Moscow, Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossi Gal to Paris and Aryeh Mekel to Athens (currently the Foreign Minister deputy-director of cultural affairs and a former consul-general to NYC and Atlanta).

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)