Nominee for Israeli Ambassador to Italy Withdraws Candidacy for ‘Personal Reasons’
by JNS.org
JNS.org – Israel’s nominee for the country’s ambassador to Italy, Fiamma Nirenstein, withdrew her candidacy on Tuesday after being offered the role last year.
Nirenstein, an Italian-born journalist and former lawmaker, emigrated to Israel in 2013. She cited “personal reasons” as to why she withdrew herself from consideration for the envoy post.
Last month, Haaretz reported that Italian officials had alluded to possible conflicts of interest regarding Nirenstein still receiving a salary as a former Italian parliamentarian, as well as relating to her son’s work in Italy’s state intelligence services.
An official from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister’s office did not withdraw Nirenstein’s candidacy.
This marks the second time in 2016 that a diplomatic nomination has failed to go through for Israel. In March, Israel’s nominee for ambassador to Brazil, Dani Dayan, was rejected by the Brazilian government due to Dayan’s former role as a leader of the Israeli settlement movement in Judea and Samaria. Dayan was later named appointed as Israel’s consul general in New York.