Israel’s public diplomacy chief reportedly quitting after only 8 months on the job
TV report says Moshik Aviv agreed with Netanyahu to stay on until successor found, speculates resignation due to efforts within PMO to distract his attention with ‘esoteric issues’
The head of the National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office has submitted his resignation after only eight months in the role, according to a Thursday report.
Channel 12 said Moshik Aviv had agreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stay on until a successor is appointed.
Aviv’s post is the key position overseeing Israel’s public diplomacy efforts. It was Aviv who informed English-language spokesman Eylon Levy that he was suspended “until further notice” in early March, prompting Levy’s departure from the directorate.
While the report said the official reason for Aviv’s resignation was personal and health-related, it also quoted sources in the Prime Minister’s Office as saying that there were other reasons for his departure.
Channel 12 speculated that the political “intrigues” and efforts at the PMO to divert Aviv’s attention to “esoteric issues” would likely have contributed to his decision to leave the position. It did not elaborate.
Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan quit her job five days after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
The TV report added that PMO spokesman Topaz Luk, director-general Yossi Shelley and Netanyahu’s Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman were all also set to depart in the near future.
Luk will move to work for Netanyahu’s Likud party, Shelley is hoping to be appointed ambassador to Portugal and Braverman is also hoping for a prestigious new appointment, according to the report.
The Times of Israel Community.