Yael Lempert | |
---|---|
United States Ambassador to Jordan | |
Assumed office September 3, 2023 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Henry T. Wooster |
Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs | |
In office August 31, 2021 – May 31, 2022 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Joey R. Hood |
Succeeded by | Barbara A. Leaf |
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom | |
In office January 20, 2021 – August 1, 2021 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Woody Johnson |
Succeeded by | Philip T. Reeker (acting) |
Personal details | |
Born | January 16, 1974 |
Spouse |
Andrea Catalano di Melilli
(m. 2008) |
Alma mater | Georgetown University (BS) |
Awards | National Security Council Outstanding Service Award (2017) Presidential Rank Award (2019)[1] |
Yael Lempert [2] is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to Jordan since September 2023. She previously served as acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs between August 2021 and May 2022. She also served as deputy chief of mission for the U.S. Embassy in London and U.S. chargé d'affaires to the United Kingdom.
Lempert graduated from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.[3] She is the daughter of ophthalmologist Philip Lempert and Lesley Lempert who serves on the board of the New York Civil Liberties Union.[2]
Lempert is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor. She was Senior Director for the Levant, Israel, and Egypt at the National Security Council (NSC) from 2014 to 2017. She served as Special Assistant to the President from 2015 to 2017.
She was charged with "(heading) negotiations between the Netanyahu government and Obama administration over the military aid package, in addition to her work on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The $38-billion deal, over 10 years, was the biggest the United States ever signed with any country."[citation needed]
Initially planning to return to the State Department after 20 years as a career diplomat, Lempert was asked to stay on for the transition and assembling of a new team in 2017 under Donald Trump. Trump officials thought that Lempert, with her "knowledge and experience", could help facilitate a deal between Israel and the Palestinians.[4]
From June 1, 2017, until December 2018, Lempert served as acting deputy assistant secretary for Egypt and North Africa.[3][5]
Lempert served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in London from January 2019 to 2021, and as Chargé d'Affaires, a.i. from January 2021 through July 2021.[1] In 2020, she wrote to Andrea Leadsom, the MP for the family of Harry Dunn, to refuse their request for a meeting, as it "would not be appropriate" to meet with the family due to a potential lawsuit.[6]
Lempert became the acting assistant secretary of the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs on August 31, 2021.[7]
On January 3, 2023, President Joe Biden nominated Lempert to be the ambassador to Jordan.[8] Hearings on her nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 4, 2023. The committee favorably reported her nomination to the Senate floor on June 1, 2023. Her nomination was confirmed by the full Senate via voice vote on July 27, 2023.[9] She was sworn in on August 9, 2023 by Vice President Kamala Harris.[10] She presented her credentials to King Abdullah II on September 3, 2023.[11]
Lempert married Italian diplomat Andrea Catalano di Melilli in 2008 at the Italian Embassy in Cairo.[2] She speaks Arabic.[8]