Jordan has accepted Israel’s choice of new ambassador to the kingdom as relations between the two countries improve following a months-long dispute, The Times of Israel reported on Thursday.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry named Amir Weissbrod as ambassador last month and his appointment received final confirmation by the Israeli cabinet on February 25.

Weissbrod is a career diplomat who is fluent in Arabic. He previously served as first secretary in Israel’s Jordan embassy between 2001 and 2004 and was posted in Israel’s Liaison Bureau in Morocco.

The Wednesday approval came after the two countries agreed to end a delicate diplomatic standoff.

Diplomatic relations between Jordan and Israel deteriorated after an Israeli security guard at the Israeli embassy in Amman shot and killed two Jordanians, who Israel said opened fire in self-defense after one of the men tried to attack him with a screw driver. The second man, the landlord, was killed accidentally by a stray bullet when Moyal opened fire.

The previous ambassador, Einat Schlein, hurriedly left Amman in July along with Ziv Moyal, the security guard at the center of the crisis. An understanding was reached in January between Israel and Jordan that Schlein would not return to the country. Israel also agreed to pay compensation to the government of Jordan.

Mohammed Momani, a Jordanian government spokesperson, said in January that Israel agreed to all of Jordan’s preconditions for resuming diplomatic relations, including pressing legal charges against the security guard.

Israel, however, has maintained that Moyal acted in self-defense, with sources in Jerusalem saying that he would not be prosecuted.

The Israeli embassy in Jordan was reopened in February, but it has remained without an ambassador.

[Photo: Michael Leventhal / YouTube ]