Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and former ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, will be a Deputy President of the 67th UN General Assembly scheduled to convene in September.

This is only the third time that an Israeli ambassador has been voted to this position. Mr Prosor was unanimously voted in by the General Assembly on Friday as a candidate of the West European and Others regional group.

This General Assembly is expected to deal with a number of issues that are crucial to Israel, including the Iranian nuclear programme, the civil war in Syria and a possible second Palestinian attempt to gain unilateral recognition of an independent state.

Mr Prosor’s position will give him some influence over the scheduling of key votes and resolutions. Mr Prosor said: “This is another achievement for Israel at the UN and an expression of the international community’s appreciation of our contribution.”

One Israeli diplomat was less optimistic. “While any positive recognition of Israel in the UN is a welcome change,” he said, “there are 20 other General Assembly vice presidents and we still have not yet achieved temporary membership of the Security Council even once.”