Netanyahu aide Tzachi Braverman tapped as next Israeli ambassador to UK

Tzachi Braverman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, is approved by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee as the next ambassador in London, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

The appointment comes on the last day of current Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely’s term, a diplomatic source tells The Times of Israel.

Braverman, one of Netanyahu’s closest advisers, is under investigation for forgery and fraud over the illegal altering of records in the Prime Minister’s Office, and has been questioned by police. Braverman is suspected of having altered the stated time at which Netanyahu first received an update on the October 7 Hamas invasion via phone call from his military secretary at the time, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, allegedly changing it from 6:40 a.m. to 6:29 a.m.

According to Channel 12, Braverman allegedly first attempted to persuade a stenographer to change the time written in the transcript, insisting that it was incorrectly stated as 6:40 a.m., but she refused, and he then changed it himself.

Netanyahu’s office at the time firmly denied the allegations of Braverman’s misconduct, calling them “another complete fabrication that is also part of an unprecedented media witch hunt against the Prime Minister’s Office during wartime, designed to whitewash the grave failures of others on the night of October 7.”

Braverman, too, has strongly denied the allegations, calling them “severe slander” and “wild incitement,” and threatened to sue Kan if it did not retract the allegations and issue a public apology after the network named him in connection with the blackmail case. Kan stood by its reporting.