From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Netanyahu said to weigh tapping his chief of staff as envoy to UK
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering appointing his chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, as the next ambassador to the UK, the Walla news site reports.
Current Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely will finish her five-year term in August.
The Prime Minister’s Office seems to deny the report.
“Recently, there hasn’t been a single position that hasn’t been ‘assigned’ to chief of staff Tzachi Braverman by the media,” says Netanyahu spokesman Omer Dostri. “It would be better for the media to focus on more substantial matters than engage obsessively in endless vague and anonymous speculation.”
Braverman was questioned by police in November on suspicion of forgery and fraud over the illegal altering of records in the Prime Minister’s Office on the early morning of October 7, 2023, amid the Hamas onslaught.
Yesterday, Haaretz reported that Netanyahu is considering appointing Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel as London envoy, saying that Haskel won’t support a controversial Haredi conscription law the coalition is trying to pass and wants to guarantee her vote. Netanyahu’s office and Haskel denied the report.
The Times of Israel Community.