UN Security Council. Photo: wiki commons.

Dr. David Scharia, 43, a former senior official in the Israeli attorney general’s office, has been appointed legal coordinator for the executive directorate of the U.N. Security Council’s Counter Terrorism Committee, making him the only Israeli in a senior security position within the UN Secretariat.

It is rare for Israelis to rise through the ranks of the UN. “The organization helped give birth to Israel, but the recent history between the country and the UN has been contentious,” the Washington Post reported.

“I am very proud to welcome a very talented Israeli into the U.N.’s senior ranks,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor said on Wednesday. “One of my priorities is to bring many more bright minds from the Holy Land into the UN’s halls, where Israelis have long been under-represented.”

In the past, Scharia represented counterterrorism cases on behalf of the state before the Israeli Supreme Court. He has been working at the UN since September 2005. Scharia will oversee a team of 12 international legal experts who advise the 15-nation Security Council on its counterterrorism efforts.