Noam Shapira appointed to fill long-vacant public diplomacy chief role

Tzipi Hotovely, the recently appointed head of the National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office, announces the appointment of Noam Shapira as director of the National Public Diplomacy Staff, a position that has been vacant since January 2023.

Shapira, 44, served in the military’s elite Sayeret Matkal unit, known in English as the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, and in recent years has “led numerous efforts in international public diplomacy, leveraging strategic partnerships for Israel, and establishing the IDF’s freedom of action” in the IDF’s Operations Directorate, the PMO says in a statement, adding that he was appointed following a unanimous approval by the selection committee.

“The role of director of the Public Diplomacy Staff is a key position within the organization, and I am confident that together we can work to strengthen the State of Israel and meet the challenges facing us,” Hotovely says in the statement.

Until the past few months, several key positions in the PMO’s Public Diplomacy Directorate — which is officially responsible for coordinating Israel’s global messaging — remained vacant following a series of resignations and layoffs, even as Israel fought wars on several fronts and faced severe and mounting global criticism from both allies and adversaries.