Transportation Minister Miri Regev is once again trying to advance Ofer Malka inside the Israel Airports Authority, this time as a board director, after an earlier bid to appoint him as chief executive was rejected. According to Globes, the move is taking place now, ahead of the Knesset's dissolution, and would effectively make the man who was blocked from becoming CEO a supervisor of the current CEO, Sharon Kadmi.
About two years ago, Regev sought to appoint Malka as director-general of the Airports Authority, but the government companies appointments committee rejected him for failing the eligibility requirements. The committee later also said he did not meet the required experience standards and raised concerns that he had altered data in documents he submitted.
Malka joined Regev's inner circle in 2020, when she appointed him director-general of the Transport Ministry. Before that, he had served as CEO of the Hadera Economic Company and as business development manager at the cyber company CYE. He was also quoted in a past "HaMakor" investigation as writing to Regev on October 7, 2023, that the cabinet should demand the air force commander provide a list of soldiers who did not report for duty, and that they should be tried as traitors. Another message cited by the report was sent while Regev was in Be'eri and residents asked her to leave, where Malka wrote that the Transport Ministry was one of the kibbutz's main sources of income and suggested it might be worth issuing a new tender if the print shop manager was driving away the people it employed.
Regev already appointed Malka to the Airports Authority board in her current term, but he resigned after a few months and then applied for the CEO job. The Airports Authority, founded in 1977, manages, operates and develops Israel's airports, led today by Kadmi. Its board has 15 members, including the chair, seven public representatives and seven civil servants. Neither Malka nor Regev responded to requests for comment.
