U.S. President Barack Obama will name Middle East advisor Daniel Shapiro as his ambassador to Israel, according to the Washington website Politico. He is to replace Jim Cunningham in a regular rotation of foreign envoys.
Politico’s writer Laura Rozen said that Washington officials have confirmed the intended appointment.
Shapiro, a fluent Hebrew speaker, is the National Security Council’s Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa and has worked closely with Oslo Accords enthusiast Dennis Ross and U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell. Shapiro has traveled to Syria with the objective of paving the road for a peace treaty with Damascus, which presumably would be conditioned on Israel’s surrendering the strategic Golan Heights.
Speaking to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) last year, Shapiro said that President Obama "knew that achieving a two-state solution is the only way to guarantee
He has been an advisor to Obama since 2007, one year before he ran for president, and worked for him in his campaign in 2008, concentrating on fundraising and communication with the American Jewish community. Shapiro accompanied President Obama on his campaign visit to Israel.
Shapiro was born in Illinois, President Obama’s home state, and studied at Brandeis and Harvard universities, where he earned a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Politics.
He also was director of legislative affairs in the administration of Bill Clinton.