Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the appointments, calling them \u201coutstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWishing you all the greatest success for the benefit of all Israeli citizens!\u201d he wrote on his official X account. He noted as well that that the cabinet also approved Col. (Res.) Nati Cohen as head of the National Digital Agency, which focuses on bringing the public arena into the digital age.<\/p>\n
\t Hotovely, a member of Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing Likud party and former deputy foreign minister, has drawn backlash for her remarks over the years, including for saying in 2017 that American Jews \u201cnever send their children to fight for their country,\u201d a statement for which she later apologized.<\/p>\n Hotovely served as Israel\u2019s ambassador in London from 2020 to 2025. Netanyahu\u2019s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, is slated to take over the UK posting<\/a> but has been prevented from doing so because he is under investigation in connection with a probe into a classified document leak.<\/p>\n He is suspected of having altered the stated time at which Netanyahu first received an update on the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion via phone call from his military secretary at the time, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, allegedly changing it from 6:40 a.m. to 6:29 a.m.<\/p>\n The restrictive conditions on Braverman were lifted last month, allowing him to soon take up the ambassador\u2019s post.<\/p>\n Cohen will begin his six-year tenure on next month, or after any conflict of interest procedures are completed, the PMO said.<\/p>\n \t Cohen\u2019s appointment had Netanyahu\u2019s backing.<\/p>\n According to Hebrew media reports, Michal Halperin, a member of the committee that selected Cohen, opposed his appointment, noting the lack of women in senior positions in Israel.<\/p>\n The Ynet news site said Cohen\u2019s appointment was also opposed by some within Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party as he was considered to be close to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party.<\/p>\n Cohen previously served as director general of the Finance Ministry, head of the Government Companies Authority, and chair of the board of directors at Cellcom.<\/p>\n The Civil Service commissioner oversees all the civil servants in the Civil Service, which runs public services in the country, and has authority over senior appointments, promotions, and dismissals in the Civil Service, the allocation of tasks within its departments, and disciplinary processes.<\/p>\n Cohen\u2019s appointment came after a long-running storm<\/a> over the replacement of his predecessor, Daniel Hershkowitz.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tPrime Minister\u2019s Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman arrives for the funeral of Asher Hayon, a former chief of staff and adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu, at a cemetery in Modi\u2019in, February 17, 2026. (Jonathan Sahul\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"Finance](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f120821YA0002-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tFinance Ministry Director General Doron Cohen, August 21, 2012 (Yoav Ari Dudkevitch\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n
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