Bibi appoints LA oleh as foreign affairs adviser

Ari Harow will run Likud's Anglo division, coordinate Netanyahu's visits abroad and handle campaign to convince foreign governments to divest from Iran.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
ari harow 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
ari harow 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu appointed Ari Harow last month as his new foreign affairs adviser, overseeing communication between his office and Jewish organizations, governments and media abroad. Harow will run the Likud's Anglo division, coordinate Netanyahu's visits abroad and handle his campaign to convince foreign governments to divest from Iran. Harow, who is originally from Los Angeles, until recently headed American Friends of the Likud. While people like Dore Gold and Uzi Arad continue to advise Netanyahu on foreign policy, Harow is in charge of helping the Likud leader implement his policies once they are in place. "My job is to help him advance the country, the Likud and himself, in that order," Harow said. "It's important for him to have someone in this position who understands the lay of the land in the US and abroad and who can help him maximize his time spent there and his contacts while here in Israel to better use the strategic advantage he has of his ability to communicate." One of Harow's goals will be to focus Netanyahu's visits abroad so they will be more goal-oriented. Netanyahu is not planning a trip abroad until after the High Holidays in October when he will continue trying to convince American state legislatures to divest state pension funds from Iran. Before Harow, Netanyahu's point person was Odelia Carmon-Lazar, who left her job last year. Before that, the Likud chairman's former bureau chief Yechiel Leiter had similar responsibilities when Netanyahu was finance minister. Harow, 34, has served as an unpaid external adviser for Netanyahu on Diaspora affairs for more than five years, going back to the 2002 Likud primary. He made aliya with his family to Karnei Shomron's Neveh Aliza neighborhood in 1985 at the age of 12. After serving in the Golani Brigade, he graduated with a bachelor's degree from City University of New York. He is finishing a master's degree in political science at Tel Aviv University and lives in Modi'in with his wife and two children. Since Harow restarted the Likud's Anglo division a few months ago, branches have opened in Jerusalem, Haifa, the Sharon region, Modi'in, Beit Shemesh, Rehovot, Ra'anana and Ma'aleh Adumim. He is planning major events in Jerusalem, Ra'anana and Hod Hasharon. The Likud Anglo division intends to run an Anglo candidate for the Knesset. Names mentioned as possible candidates include former defense minister Moshe Arens and Leiter. Though many people in the Anglo Likud have suggested that Harow should run, he decided against it. "I'm in this job for the long haul," Harow said.