Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday appointed Dr. Reda Mansour as Israel's next ambassador to Brazil. Mansour is currently the Foreign Ministry's representative at the Israel National Defense College, and will enter his new position in the summer. Mansour joins two other Druze diplomats: Naim Aryadi, Israel's ambassador to Norway, and Baheej Mansour, Israel's ambassador to the Dominican Republic. Mansour hails from the Druze town of Osfiya on Mount Carmel. Mansour has been ambassador to Ecuador, deputy ambassador to Portugal and consul-general in San Francisco. After Aryadi's appointment to Norway in 2012, Lieberman said, "Yisrael Beytenu will continue to strengthen Israel according to the model: Those who contribute to society will receive in turn, whether Jew, Arab, Druze, or Bedouin, with no distinction made to gender, religion or race." The Foreign Ministry also appointed Danny Carmon as Israel's ambassador to India and Amir Lati as consul-general in Chengdu, China. The appointments are expected to receive government approval.
