Top Netanyahu aide Eli Groner stepping down

Eli Groner, director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, will step down after serving more than three years in the position, the PMO announced Monday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Eli Groner, who took up the position in May 2015, to stay on until the end of the current Knesset session to complete a reform in business licensing before officially stepping down later this summer.

“I thank Eli Groner for his dedicated work in advancing issues of great importance in the fields of economics and society,” said Netanyahu.

No replacement for Groner, 47, has been named.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Eli Groner, director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office, at a press conference announcing a new reform for small businesses at the PMO in Jerusalem, on December 3, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The PMO credited Groner with leading reforms to cut regulation and lower the cost of living, as well helping to formulate and obtain approval for a host of other initiatives.

Before taking the position, Groner served as Israel’s minister for economic affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, a position that saw him responsible for advancing Israeli economic interests with the US Treasury, the American Department of Energy, and other government agencies.

Groner previously served as a senior adviser to the chairman of Tnuva, and before that spent six years at the McKinsey & Company consulting firm.

Groner served as a paratrooper in the Israeli military and received a citation for outstanding performance and exemplary leadership. He served as a reserve soldier in the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

American-born, Groner renounced his US citizenship before taking up the embassy post in 2011.