Minister lauds new liaison to Palestinians — before he's officially approved

Jumping the gun, Ayoub Kara congratulates Kamil Abu Rokon on COGAT role, despite Defense Ministry not signing off

By Judah Ari Gross 20 November 2017, 10:14 am Edit

Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.

In an apparent gaffe, Communications Minister Ayoub Kara congratulated Israel’s next military liaison to the Palestinians on Monday, though the candidate has yet to be approved fully by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman.

On Twitter, Kara congratulated Brig. Gen. (res.) Kamil Abu Rokon, who currently leads the Defense Ministry’s Border Crossing Authority, on his appointment to the new liaison position, officially known as the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).

“I am proud of you, love you and wish you success for the IDF and the State of Israel,” wrote Kara, Israel’s first Druze minister.

Kara later deleted his tweet.

Minister of Communications Ayoub Kara holds a press conference on moves to shut down the Al Jazeera offices in Jerusalem, August 6, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The only hitch is that Abu Rokon, who would be Israel’s second-ever Druze major general, has yet to be officially approved to take over from Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, who currently serves in the position.

Spokespeople for the defense minister and the army said that if and when Abu Rokon is appointed the next COGAT, an official announcement will be put out.

Mordechai, who was named Israel’s chief military liaison to the Palestinians in October 2013, is expected to complete his tenure in the coming months.

Abu Rokon has long been in the running to lead the Defense Ministry’s COGAT unit. He served as the deputy commander of the unit in 2001 and was reportedly considered for the leadership post in 2011 by then IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, but was passed over in favor of Maj. Gen. (res) Eitan Dangot.

Kara’s office did not immediately respond to requests for clarification.

It would not be the first time the minister’s social media use got him into trouble.

In February, Kara sparked an international spat when he tweeted that Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi had put forward a plan to create a Palestinian state in the Sinai Peninsula as part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.

Just over a year ago, then-deputy minister Kara also revealed information in a Facebook video about a security incident that was, at the time, under total military censorship, concerning an Israeli citizen who was being held in an Arab country on murder charges.