Danny Danon, Israel’s Minister of Science Technology and Space, will be next ambassador to the United Nations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also holds the Foreign Minister post, announced.

"Danon has agreed to take on an important challenge that I proposed for him. The United Nations is an important forum right now and I am sure that Danny will represent the truth with full force in the international arena," Netanyahu said.

Danon thanked Netanyahu for giving him the trust to represent Israel during what he called a "challenging period."

"I will do everything to advance Israel's just positions," Danon said.

44-year-old Danon will succeed Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor.

Since first entering the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in 2009, Danon has steadily climbed the ranks within the Likud party, now placed at no. 9 on the party list. In 2014, he unsuccessfully challenged Netanyahu for leadership of the party, and was fired from his post as Deputy Defense Minister last summer after criticizing the government’s handling of Operation Protective Edge.

The decision came after Netanyahu was attacked for his decision to accept an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Hamas.

In an interview in 2012, the soft-spoken Danon said of his relationship with Netanyahu, “I think he appreciates me, because I’m very direct with him. Whatever I tell him in a closed room, he knows that’s my position.”

The opposition Zionist Union party responded to Danon's appointment by saying "Houston we have a problem," in reference to his current post as Science Technology and Space Minister.

"The appointment of Space Minister Danon as ambassador to the UN is another nail in the coffin that Bibi is putting in Israel's foreign relations. The Prime Minister is acting to find jobs for Likudniks instead of the strategic leader that Israel needs," a statement released by the party read.

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog called Danon's appointment cynical and one made by a small minded politician. Herzog said that Danon's views would lead Israel to international isolation.

Danon opposes a Palestinian state, and was in favor of a more forceful Israeli offensive in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.

In a scathing editorial, Times of Israel editor-in-chief David Horovitz echoed those sentiments.

“It is hard to conceive of a more short-sighted, shameful and damaging appointment than that of the Likud hawk as U.N. envoy,” he wrote. “Not just for [the prime minister], but for all of Israel.”

But a source close to Danon responded by saying, “The Left in Israel is upset – do they think that having a leftist at the United Nations will see the U.N. singing Kumbaya for Israel?” the source asked. The “criticism is absurd – no matter who at the U.N. represents Israel, the U.N. hates Israel.”

“The same way that the Iran deal is not about Netanyahu, the U.N. hating Israel is not about Danon,” the source continued. “And indeed with Danon at the U.N., Israel will be represented by someone fiercely pro-Israel.”

by Maud Swinnen