Yechiel Leiter, Next Israeli Ambassador to U.S., Lost Son in Combat in Gaza

Yechiel Leiter, who has been tapped to be the new Israeli ambassador to the U.S. when President-elect Donald Trump takes office, lost his son, Moshe, in combat in Gaza in November 2023 — as Breitbart News reported from the funeral.

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart News

Breitbart News noted at the time:

Dr. Yechiel Leiter offered a heartfelt plea to U.S. President Joe Biden at his son Moshe’s funeral in the Mount Herzl military cemetery on Sunday: don’t pressure Israel to stop the war against Hamas.

Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidyah Leiter was one of four members of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) 551st Brigade’s 697th Battalion who were killed in Gaza by a booby-trapped tunnel on Friday. Thousands of mourners came to his funeral, which lasted several hours.

His father, a former chief of staff to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is well known throughout the Jewish world, especially in the U.S., where he was born.

In his eulogy, Leiter — a fellow Scranton, Pennsylvania, native — offered a plea to President Joe Biden: “There are rumors, now, that you’re putting pressure on Israel to hold off, to cease the offensive. If those rumors are true — I hope they’re not — but if they’re true, I respectfully ask of you, here, on my son’s grave, cease and desist! Stand back, Mr. President. Don’t pressure us. Let us do what we know how to do, what we must do: defeat evil.”

The Jewish Insider reported:

Leiter has been affiliated with numerous right-leaning organizations in Israel, including the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and the Kohelet Forum.

Leiter, a resident of the West Bank settlement Eli, grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Israel at age 18 to serve in the IDF. He is an ordained rabbi, has a doctorate in political philosophy and has written several books.

Netanyahu brought Leiter as his guest to his speech to a joint session of Congress in July, and paid tribute to his son Moshe, who died in combat in Gaza last year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that it had asked current Ambassador Mike Herzog to stay on through the presidential transition, which lasts until January 20.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.