Ofir Gendelman has previously worked in a similar capacity at the Foreign Ministry.
By HERB KEINON
In an effort to get the government’s message across to the Arab world in a better way, the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday announced the appointment of Ofir Gendelman as its first Arabic-language spokesman.Gendelman, who previously worked in this capacity at the Foreign Ministry, will join Nir Hefetz, responsible for the Israeli press, and Mark Regev, spokesman to the foreign press, as one of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s principal spokesmen.“This is an important and unique position that has been filled, on instruction from Prime Minister Netanyahu, to deal with recent media developments in the Arab world, and especially in light of global developments regarding Arabic-language television stations,” Hefetz said.Hefetz said the appointment had been made to strengthen Israel’s publicdiplomacy efforts with Arabic-speaking communities, represent Israel’spositions directly and increase the exposure of Israeli initiatives “onvarious diplomatic, security, economic, social and cultural issues.”The appointment comes a few weeks after the Palestinian Authorityestablished an “Israeli Press Unit” inside the “Palestinian GovernmentMedia Center,” which is under the authority of PA Prime Minister SalamFayyad’s office. That unit sends out regular press releases in Hebrewto the Israeli media.Gendelman comes to his new post from the Israel-Palestinian Chamber ofCommerce and Industry, where he served as its first director-general.