By HERB KEINON
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni appointed veteran diplomat Daniel Shek as Israel's envoy to Paris on Thursday, the first time in years that this position will be filled by a professional, rather than a political, appointment.
Just three days after the State Comptroller issued a report calling for changes in the way Foreign Ministry appointments were handled, the ministry's High Appointments committee met for the first time in months and named no less than 12 ambassadorial appointments. All of these appointments came from the ranks of the foreign ministry, including Anna Azari, who will serve as Israel's envoy to Moscow.
The list also includes the naming of Reda Mansour, a Druze, who will serve as Israel's consul-general in Atlanta.
The ambassadorial appointments include Jacob Rosen, Jordan; Zion Evrony, Ireland; Noah Gal-Gender, Bulgaria; Daniel Kedem, Cote d'Ivorie; Gideon Behar, Senegal; Ran Yishay, Kazakhstan; Chen Ivri, Latvia; Zeev Boker, Slovakia; Ehud Eitam, Costa Rica; and Avraham Hadad, Cyprus.