New US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides Arrives After 10-Month Gap

The United States’ new ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, may have been planning to hit the ground running when he arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport on Monday to take up his post, but the new coronavirus variant omicron had a different idea. Nides instead underwent a PCR test for the coronavirus upon his arrival in Israel, and will remain in quarantine for three days. Still, it is the first time in 10 months that the US has had an ambassador in Israel, and he seems to really be happy to be here. “After my first trip to Israel, I wrote in my local newspaper that ‘the moment I put my feet on the ground, I had a feeling which I will never forget.’ Landing today in Israel to be US Ambassador is another moment I’ll never forget,” Nides tweeted. Nides, who was confirmed by the Senate earlier this month, will live in Jerusalem in a rented home. The former US ambassador’s residence in Herzliya Pituach in central Israel, an easy commute to Tel Aviv, was sold in 2020 after the Trump administration moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.