Israel Hayom columnist tapped as Israel’s next envoy to Italy
Eydar, considered a strong Netanyahu supporter in the print media, will replace another political appointment, Ofer Sachs.
By HERB KEINONUpdated: SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 04:13The Italian flag waves over the Quirinal Palace in Rome, Italy May 30, 2018(photo credit: REUTERS/TONY GENTILE)Israel Hayom columnist and op-ed editor Dror Eydar has been selected as Israel’s next ambassador to Italy, the Foreign Ministry confirmed on Wednesday.If the appointment is approved by the Civil Services Commission and then the government, Eydar will be the latest political appointment in the foreign service made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also serves as the country’s foreign minister.According to a long standing agreement, the foreign minister is permitted 11 ambassador or consul-general appointments aboard, a frequent point of contention for foreign ministry diplomats, who see some of the plum postings going to political appointments.Eydar, considered a strong Netanyahu supporter in the print media, will replace another political appointment, Ofer Sachs, former head of the Israel Export Institute. Eydar, 51, holds a doctorate in Hebrew and Jewish literature from Bar-Ilan University. The appointment will take effect next summer.In 2012 Haaretz reported that Eydar received a NIS 50,000 salary for a year from the Prime Ministers Office for writing speeches and lectures for Moshe Ya’alon, who was then the Strategic Affairs Minister, a ministry under the auspices of the PMO.Eydar will not be the only journalist that Netanyahu has appointed for high-level diplomatic representations abroad. In 2017 Netanyahu selected Gilad Katz, a former diplomatic correspondent for Makor Rishon, and later one of Netanyahu’s speech-writers, as consul-general in Houston.The current editor-in-chief of Israel Hayom, Boaz Bismuth, also became an ambassador after serving for years as a reporter for Yediot Aharonot in Paris. Then foreign minister Silvan Shalom made Bismuth Israel’s ambassador to Mau - ritania in 2004, a post he held for four years.Currently some of Israel’s key missions abroad are filled by polit - ical appointments, including in Washington, the UN, New York, Beijing and Brasilia.
