High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! This is a list of United States Ambassadors to Israel. The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with Israel since the establishment of Israel as a state in 1948. James Grover McDonald (1886 - 1964) was a United States diplomat. He served as the first U.S. Ambassador to Israel. He studied at Harvard University. Monnett Bain Davis (August 13, 1893-December 26, 1953) was an American Ambassador. Born in Greencastle, Indiana, he was named for his maternal grandmother, Mary Monnett Bain, a benfactress of the Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. Edward B. Lawson (born 26 September 1895) was a US Ambassador to Israel (1954-1959) and Iceland (1949-54). He was a World War I veteran.