US appoints career diplomat Robert Silverman to head its embassy in Egypt

Veteran US diplomat Robert Silverman was recalled to the diplomatic service to temporarily head the US Embassy in Egypt as its chargé d’affaires, according to a statement from the embassy. Silverman’s appointment in February places him at the helm of the embassy just as the US and Israel launch attacks on Iran. It also follows the recall of then-US ambassador to Egypt Herro Mustafa Garg in December amid a Trump administration shakeup that ended the overseas postings of 30 senior diplomats who were mostly appointed during the Biden administration.

Trump’s man in Cairo? It’s still a bit too early to tell. Silverman’s appointment on paper seems to be based on political experience and not simple loyalty to the current administration — as we’ve seen with other US appointments around the world. The Arabic, Hebrew, and Turkish speaker had a 27-year stint at the State Department with senior postings in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and other nations. He left afterwards to co-found the Inter Jewish Muslim Alliance, head the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune as its editor-in-chief, and lecture on American foreign policy at a college in Israel.

While a firm defender of Israel, his views are still at odds with the current far-right administration in Tel Aviv. Silverman — who served for the IDF before entering the US diplomatic service — has criticized Israel’s far-right religious movements and argued for the liberal Zionist position of a two-state solution as a strategic necessity. The diplomat has also been a keen supporter of the Abraham Accords and the normalization of ties between Israel and Arab states throughout his career.