JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Dore Gold to serve as director general of the Foreign Ministry.

Gold, an American-born former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations who twice served as a foreign policy adviser to Netanyahu, is a close confidant of the prime minister.

Gold formerly ran the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a conservative think tank from which he has taken a leave of absence. He replaces Nissim Ben-Shitrit, who was appointed by the previous foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman, to run the ministry.