Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon resigns to run in Likud primaries: reports

Israel’s representative to the United Nations Danny Danon resigned from his position on Wednesday in order to run in the right-wing Likud party’s primaries, local media reports said.

Israel’s Maariv newspaper said that Danon announced his resignation on Wednesday, days after the heads of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition announced the dissolution of parliament and called early elections for April 9.

Prior to his appointment as UN envoy in 2015, Danon was considered a powerful political force within the Likud party, having chaired its central committee. He and Netanyahu, who leads the faction, have been locked in bitter dispute over various issues throughout their political careers.

He later served as Minister of Science, Technology and Space under a new Netanyahu government until his appointment to the UN in August 2015 upon which he stepped down as a Knesset member and minister.

In June 2016, Danon was elected as chairman of the U.N. Legal Committee, making him the first Israeli chosen to head a permanent committee of the UN.

Danon was accused of widespread corruption last year, after Israel’s Hadashot news (formerly Channel 2 news), reported that he arranged lucrative positions for his friends and their relatives within a department at the World Zionist Organization which he chaired between 2006 and 2015 in exchange for their backing during Likud’s primary elections in the years prior to his appointment as UN ambassador.

Both Danon and the World Zionist Organization refuted the claims.