Former Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely was appointed on Sunday as head of the National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), filling the role after it had been left vacant for two years.
The appointment came after the government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision for Hotovely to lead the directorate. She is expected to assume the position next week on Tuesday (May 5).
The role has been vacant since May 2024, when Moshik Aviv resigned after holding the position for only eight months.
Since then, the National Public Diplomacy Directorate has operated without a permanent head, despite multifront wars and sharp international criticism, along with condemnation of Israel in recent years.
Hotovely served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom between 2020 and 2025. She also previously held the portfolios of minister of settlement affairs, minister of diaspora affairs, and deputy foreign minister.
PMO: Hotovely worked to 'promote the image of the State'
“In her various roles, she worked, among other things, to promote the image of the State of Israel, gave numerous interviews to international media outlets worldwide, and was active on the international public diplomacy front, including during the war,” the Prime Minister’s Office stated following the appointment.
The government also approved the appointment of former Finance Ministry director-general Doron Cohen as civil service commissioner.
The role of the civil service commissioner is to be the official supervisor of the state’s tens of thousands of civil servants. The commissioner is considered a central gatekeeper of the professional and apolitical character of public service. Authority includes chairing a large number of appointment committees for various high-level positions and approving government requests to recruit employees without a tender.
Cohen’s appointment comes after controversy over the appointment process to determine who would replace former civil service commissioner Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz.
Netanyahu had rejected the attorney general’s proposal for the appointment process and instead decided that he would personally choose the next commissioner, whose integrity (but not legal background) would then need to be vetted by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee.
In February, the High Court of Justice reversed its earlier decision and ruled that Netanyahu may appoint a candidate for civil service commissioner at his discretion without a competitive process.
Cohen’s term is expected to begin next week on Tuesday, or upon completion of the procedures required under a conflict-of-interest arrangement, whichever is later, the PMO said. Cohen’s appointment is for a six-year term.
Attorney Michal Halperin, who serves as a member of the Appointments Committee, explained that she voted against Cohen's appointment because, in her view, Netanyahu did not fulfill an "active obligation to identify women for the role."
She added that "33 director-generals are serving in the government, all 33 of them men."
Hotovely, Cohen deemed 'exceptional selections'
At the beginning of the government meeting announcing the appointments, Netanyahu praised both Hotovely and Cohen, calling them “exceptional selections.”
Netanyahu added that Cohen was the correct fit for the role of civil service commissioner, saying that he was highly experienced and “ brings together experience from both the private and public sectors."
Netanyahu said that Hotovely “will take on this important mission in coordination, of course, working with the Foreign Ministry. We have integrated highly important work to do in public diplomacy at the global level.”
Leading rival candidate to Netanayhau in the upcoming elections, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, has sharply criticized the government for the way it has led the country's public diplomacy.
Bennett has promised, as part of his campaign ahead of the elections, that his government would work to repair Israel’s international public standing.
He has spoken on how, when he was prime minister, he put together a hasbara (public diplomacy) unit to advocate for Israel.
“Israel has no effective public diplomacy, and it’s unclear why. When I was prime minister, I established an excellent public diplomacy system. This government dismantled it. I will restore it in full force,” Bennett told The Jerusalem Post in an interview last month.
Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.