Danny Danon

Early life

Danon was born in Ramat Gan to Yosef and Yoheved Danon. He attended Blich High School and was a member of the Betar youth movement. He earned a Bachelor's degree in international affairs from the Florida International University, and a Master's degree in public policy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After his national service in the IDF between 1994 and 1996, Danon was sent to Miami by the Jewish Agency.

Political career

In 1996, he was appointed assistant to Likud MK Uzi Landau. Later on he was appointed the Chairman of the World Betar organization for a few years. Prior to the 2006 elections, Danon won 23rd spot on Likud's list in the party primaries. However, the party won only 12 seats, and Danon did not enter the Knesset. In June 2006, after beating MK Yuval Steinitz, Danon was elected Chairman of the World Likud organization. Danon was active against Prime-Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan during the referendum conducted by the latter in the Likud party's central committee.

In July 2007, Danon, described as one of Benjamin Netanyahu's biggest critics from within the Likud, declared his candidacy for the Likud leadership elections. He eventually finished third. In 2008, Danon filed a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice to rescind the citizenship of former MK Azmi Bishara, who fled Israel after he was suspected of aiding Hezbollah, an enemy organization of Israel, during the 2006 Lebanon War. The petition was rejected.

Prior to the 2009 elections he won twenty-fourth place on the Likud list, and entered the Knesset as the party won 27 seats. He became a Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. In an August 2011 interview with Teymoor Nabili on Al Jazeera English, Mr. Danon said "There is place only for one state on the land of Israel.... I do not believe in a two-state solution."

After being re-elected in 2013, Danon was appointed as Deputy Minister of Defense in Netanyahu's government. However, on 15 July 2014 Danon was fired from the position by Netanyahu after publicly criticizing Netanyahu's handling of Operation Protective Edge.

Danon submitted his candidacy for the 2014 Likud leadership election on 8 December 2014. The only candidate to run against Netanyahu, he received 19% of the votes. After retaining his Knesset seat in the 2015 elections, Danon was appointed Minister of Science, Technology and Space in Netanyahu's new government.

On 14 August 2015, Danon was appointed by Netanyahu to be Israel's envoy to the UN replacing Ron Prosor. He stepped down as a Knesset member and minister later in the month.

In June 2016 Danon was elected as chairman of the U.N. Legal Committee, making him the first Israeli chosen to head a permanent committee of the U.N.

Member of the Likud Party

Danon’s time as an emissary for the Jewish Agency had a big impact on his life; it was the first stepping stone in his choice to enter public service.

Upon his return to Israel, Danon served as an adviser to the Chair of the Knesset Foreign affairs and Defense Committee, MK Uzi Landau.

When he was 28 years old, Danon was elected Chair of the World Betar Movement. His responsibilities included managing the administrative, financial, and educational aspects of the organization in Israel and abroad, and encouraging aliyah.

From 2004 to 2009, Danon served as the chairman of the Likud faction in the World Zionist Organization. His responsibilities included encouraging aliyah to Israel and combatting Antisemitism. Danon also served on the board of directors of the Jewish Agency, establishing policy, goals and monitoring the work of the Agency.

During the internal primary elections for the Likud Party slate in 2006, Danon was elected to the twenty-third place. In the general elections for the 17th Knesset the Likud only won twelve seats, and Danon did not enter the Knesset. Later that year, Danon ran against MK Yuval Steinitz for the position of Chairman of the World Likud. In this new role Danon assumed responsibility for the Likud’s Israel-advocacy activities, the movement’s international relations, and focused on building relationships with pro-Israel communities around the world.

In the 2007 Likud leadership race Danon ran against Benjamin Netanyahu and Moshe Feiglin. Benjamin Netanyahu won the election.

Member of the 18th Knesset

On December 8, 2008, Danon was elected to the twenty-fourth place on the Likud slate for the upcoming election. In the general elections the Likud party won twenty-seven seats, and Danon was sworn in as a Member of the Knesset.

During this term, MK Danon served as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and Chair of the Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs. These positions presented Danon with the opportunities promote legislation in a variety fields.

In addition to the committees that he chaired, Danon was also a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the Finance Committee, the Education, Culture, and Sports Committee, the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality.

Legislation that Danon promoted included laws granting widows (including those who remarried) of fallen Israeli security personnel and terror attack victims the rights to receive grants from the government. He also promoted a law in which ensured that pardoned convicts who committed a crime during their parole period would automatically be re-imprisoned. In addition, Danon passed a law that limited the promotion and advertisement of alcoholic beverages, and a law that set minimum weight requirements for the modeling industry and required advertisers to disclose whether Photoshop was used in their ads.

Member of the 19th Knesset- Deputy Minister of Defense

In the Likud internal primaries for the 19th Knesset, Danon won the fifth place, and on March 17, 2013, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense.

During his term, Danon focused on increasing enlistment to the IDF from the Christian, and the Ultra-orthodox and Ethiopian Jewish communities, bettering the service conditions of reservists, establishing criteria for financial benefits for the security forces, and decreasing the number of military drop-outs.

In June 2013, Danon was elected Chair of the Likud Party Central Committee, with 85% of the votes.

On July 15, 2014, Danon was dismissed from his position by Prime Minister Netanyahu after publicly criticizing his conduct and his willingness to accept a truce with Hamas during Operation Protective Edge.

Later that year, in December 2014, Danon placed 9th in the Likud’s internal primary elections. After the Likud victory in the general elections for the 20th Knesset, Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed Danon to his cabinet to the position of Minister of Science, Technology and Space.

Member of the 20th Knesset- Minister of Science, Technology and Space

One of the first decisions Danon made after his appointment as Minister of Science, Technology and Space, was to designate the upcoming year as the year of Pioneering Women in Science and Technology. Danon also led efforts to increase awareness for science, technology and space amongst the residents of developing cities in Israel, by increasing the number of science-focused summer camps. Minister Danon led negotiations with the Ministry of Finance and succeeded in increasing his Ministry’s budget by 20%.

During his time in office Danon dealt with strengthening ties and cooperation between countries and companies around the world. In June 2015 he signed a cooperation agreement with Lockheed Martin on promoting science, technology and space among children. He also visited the Sesame Particle Accelerator in Jordan, which Israel is participating in, to broaden the cooperation.

Danon served in this position till August 27, 2015, when Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed him as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN.

Permanent Representative to the UN

Danny Danon became Israel’s Ambassador and Permanent representative to the UN in October 2015. At that time a wave of terrorist attack struck Israel, and the situation in Israel made its way to UN discussions. Danon’s first speech took place at the Security Council’s meeting on the Situation in Israel. The Palestinian representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, interrupted Danon’s speech, violating protocol. In a Security Council meeting on the same issue in April 2015, Danon accused the Palestinian representative for failing to condemn terror.

Ambassador Danon has visited Israel with the Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, where they visited Israelis wounded in the recent wave of terror attacks, and met with the wife of late Richard Lakin, who was brutally stabbed in a terror attack in the capital's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood. Danon visited Israel again with US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, where they toured Israel by helicopter and were briefed on the security challenges Israel faces.

During Danon’s term as Permanent representative, the Israeli Mission marked several notable achievements including: Recognition of Yom Kippur as an Official UN holiday, Acceptance to the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), ZAKA and Access Israel, both Israeli NGOs, received consultative status at the UN, an Israeli UN resolution on Agricultural Technologies for Sustainable Development was adopted by the UN General Assembly, US Secretary of State, John Kerry attended an event marking 40 years since Chaim Herzog’s historic UN speech, Israel held the first ever international summit at the UN against BDS, and Ambassador Danon became the first ever Israeli representative to chair a main UN committee.

His time as envoy to the UN was also characterized by victories over the UN’s treatment of Israel. After 8 months that the UN refused to Condemn the wave of terror in Israel, Including a statement by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that it is “Human Nature to react to occupation,” On June 9, both the Secretary General and the Security Council condemned terror in Israel for the first time following the Attack in the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv. In addition, Danon marked another victory, when an exhibit about Israel what was partially censored for its panels about Jerusalem and Zionism, was later displayed fully following pressure and diplomatic efforts by Ambassador Danon.

Writing

Danon published his first book in September 2012 entitled “Israel: the Will to Prevail.” The book analyzes the Israel-US relationship, and presents alternative approaches to the conventional wisdom on negotiating peace between Israelis and Palestinians.