After four years in the UK, Mark Regev returns to Netanyahu’s office

Australian-born career diplomat became the prime minister’s spokesperson to the foreign media in Ehud Olmert era; will be replaced as UK ambassador by Tzipi Hotovely

By Raphael Ahren 12 August 2020, 4:41 pm Edit

Raphael Ahren is a former diplomatic correspondent at The Times of Israel.

Israel's then-Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mark Regev delivers a speech at the annual Holocaust Memorial Commemoration event, co-hosted with the Israeli Embassy, in central London on January 23, 2019. - The Foreign Secretary will deliver a keynote speech and unveil the Frank Foley bust. Frank Foley was a British Secret Intelligence Service Officer who in the late 1930s saved thousands of Jews by helping them escape Nazi Germany. (Tolga AKMEN / POOL / AFP)

After four years as Israeli ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev on Wednesday returned to his previous job as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson for international media.

Regev is replacing Evan Gary Cohen, who had quit the position in March after only seven months. “Great to be rejoining the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem,” Regev tweeted on Wednesday.

Regev’s official title is “senior advisor to the prime minister,” a role in which he will deal with “international communications,” he told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.

Britain’s Prince Charles shakes hands with Israel’s Ambassador to the UK Mark Regev and speaks to dignitaries as he attends ‘Platinum – Israel at 70,’ the Jewish community’s celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, pool)

Outgoing Settlement Affairs Minister Tzipi Hotovely was appointed Israel’s new envoy to London. She is currently waiting for the UK government to formally accept her nomination.

Before he headed to London in 2016 to replace Daniel Taub as ambassador, the soft-spoken and civil Regev had served at the prime minister’s office for eight years, becoming one of Israel’s most-recognized faces in the international media.

????????Great to be rejoining the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/AFv2kjkpL1

— Mark Regev (@MarkRegev) August 12, 2020

A career diplomat, the Australian-born Regev served in Hong Kong, Beijing and Washington, and as spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem before joining the Prime Minister’s Office, when Ehud Olmert was still prime minister.

Regev, a father of three, holds a BA in Political Science and Modern History from the University of Melbourne, an MA in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Master of Science in Management from Boston University.