Bank Leumi is an Israeli state bank. After his retirement in 1973, [[Walworth Barbour]], the former American ambassador to [[Israel]], agreed to become a board member of its American branch. This decision, while not illegal, was seen by many [[State Department]] officials as posing an obvious conflict of interest.[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 12.