PM’s spokesman said tapped as new ambassador to UK

Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is being considered for the position of ambassador to the United Kingdom, Channel 2 news reported on Thursday.

The report, which claimed that Regev was the leading candidate for the job, could not be independently confirmed.

Melbourne-born Regev is a well-known face on international television screens, where he defended Israel’s position during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, and during the IDF’s Gaza campaigns in 2008, 2012 and 2014.

Regev joined the Foreign Ministry in 1990, and formerly served as spokesman for the Israeli embassies in Washington and Beijing. In 2004, he became the Foreign Ministry spokesman, a position he held until 2007. Regev then moved to the Prime Minister’s Office, under then-premier Ehud Olmert.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UK Daniel Taub addresses a Zionist Federation event in London, March 2013 (photo credit: Courtesy Zionist Federation)

Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the UK, Daniel Taub, vacated the position in July. British-born and educated, Taub assumed office in 2011.

In other recent ambassadorial appointments, Dani Dayan, former head of the Yesha Council of settlements, was announced as the next ambassador to Brazil. Dayan was born in Argentina.

Earlier this week, Fiamma Nirenstein, an Italian journalist and former MP who immigrated to Israel two years ago, was named by the prime minister as the next ambassador to Rome.