Government Moves to Appoint National Information Headquarters Chief for Six-Year Term After Years Without One
The government intends to appoint the head of the National Information Headquarters for a six-year term, a post that has not been filled since January 2023, according to a report today, Tuesday, on Kan News. On Friday, we reported that the government had decided to exempt the post from a tender process. Whoever is appointed will head a department of about 18 employees and a budget of 11 million shekels. The long appointment stands out against the background of the fact that no one held the position for three and a half years, during a war on seven fronts. Now, four months before the Knesset elections, the government is trying to fill the post and exempt it from a tender.
Kan News reported this evening that the Prime Minister's Office, under which the National Information Headquarters operates, is recruiting almost all of the spokesperson and information roles that have been unfilled for years דווקא now, four months before the elections. In addition to the head of the headquarters position, the office is now also recruiting a head of the spokespersons system, who will be responsible for all of the office's communications.
The Prime Minister's Office did not respond to the report. The head of the National Information Headquarters reports to the head of the information system, as of last month, former minister and ambassador Tzipi Hotovely. The head of the headquarters is responsible for formulating Israeli policy in the field of information and implementing it, as well as coordinating the work of the various bodies, including the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, Israel Police, Shin Bet, Mossad, and others, מול different audiences. He is also responsible, for example, for identifying and exposing intelligence information for information purposes. Until January 2023, the position was held by attorney Gadi Ezra.
In April, the government approved the appointment of former minister and ambassador Tzipi Hotovely as head of the National Information System. Her appointment was reviewed by the Appointments Committee, which referred, among other things, to her political ties to the prime minister, as a Likud member who had previously served as a minister on behalf of the party. At the same time, the committee determined that Hotovely has the experience, qualifications, and professional abilities that justify her appointment to the position. Hotovely, who has served among other posts as Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, brings diplomatic and public diplomacy experience, which according to the committee may help strengthen Israel's information system in a complex period.
