Israel’s Tzipi Hotovely on Thursday said she had accepted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer to be Israel’s next ambassador to the United Kingdom.
The current settlements minister for the Likud party told Army Radio, “It is undoubtedly one of the most senior positions in the foreign service. Within Europe, Britain is terribly important and very friendly [to Israel], certainly under [Prime Minister Boris] Johnson, that is something we have to leverage and do important diplomatic work on.”
Hotovely, who served as deputy foreign minister between 2015 and 2020, supports Israel’s settlement movement and Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.
But for now, all her efforts are focused on her current job as settlements minister, she added, acknowledging that she has not started preparing herself for the ambassadorship in London.
If confirmed by the Israeli and the British governments, Hotovely will replace Mark Regev, Netanyahu’s former spokesperson to the international media who is finishing his five-year term in July and is expected to return to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Times of Israel reports that according to the coalition agreement between Likud and Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party, Hotovely, will remain ambassador in London for the entire time of the unity government’s existence “and cannot be replaced after the rotation agreement was implemented,” which is set to happen after 18 months.
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