IDF Northern Command spokeswoman Maj. Keren Hajioff is the leading candidate to become Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s spokeswoman for foreign media, according to sources close to the prime minister.
Hajioff, 30, who has a master’s degree in political communications from Bar-Ilan University, grew up in London and was a member of the religious-Zionist youth movement Bnei Akiva. She moved to Israel after a gap year at age 18.
Hajioff began her IDF career as an artillery instructor but eventually moved to foreign relations and public diplomacy. She was the head of the IDF’s social media in 2018-2020 and has been Northern Command’s spokeswoman for the past year.
“Israel was important to me, and I didn’t feel it was fair that others would have to serve in the army to ensure it could be a home for me as well,” Hajioff told Aish.com earlier this year. “We would spend hours on end during the night in the field, sometimes literally covered in mud, but I would wake up so grateful and excited knowing I was living a dream. I was literally defending the State of Israel.”
Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor Hajioff would confirm that she is the likely choice for the position.
Hajioff’s candidacy is supported by Foreign Affairs Adviser Shimrit Meir, a source in Jerusalem said. Meir declined to comment.
The position of spokesman or spokeswoman for foreign media has been vacant since Mark Regev stepped down last month.
Regev, 61, a Foreign Ministry professional, served as senior adviser to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for foreign affairs and international communications. He held the spokesman’s position from 2007, when Ehud Olmert was prime minister, until 2016, when he was appointed as ambassador to the UK. He served in London until 2020.