Nobody stays in the same job forever, and certainly not in Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office. But as I explained in my Shabbat column for Israel Hayom, the upcoming exodus from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office is far from standard. An excerpt of the piece is below.
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Strategic Affairs Minister and Netanyahu confidant Ron Dermer already has a retirement date in his calendar: January 1, 2026. The most important minister in the government has completely exhausted his term, and his family has had enough of the neighbors’ demonstrations and megaphones outside their home. They certainly haven’t forgotten the man who came to their home with a knife and was only stopped at the guard post.
As for Netanyahu’s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman, he’s already packing his bags for London, where he’ll become the ambassador who will enjoy the British capital and suffer its Labour government. Tzachi Hanegbi is also on his way out. The head of the National Security Council has faced a serious illness, and after three years in the role and a successful campaign against Iran, he will soon resign.
One can guess that the Prime Minister’s Office is planning a Trump-style appointment: parachuting in a candidate with a security background and a currently high public profile, preferably from right-wing Channel 14 or the like.
What about Netanyahu aide Yonatan Urich, who is currently under investigation for allegedly being on Qatar’s payroll? He actually wants to come back, but the police are preventing him, at least until right before the Jewish New Year in late September.
Of course, not every standard turnover is a “collapse of the Prime Minister’s Office.” But the cluster here is unusual for three reasons: the scope, the timing, and the lack of replacements.
In the past decade, an appointment to a senior role in the Prime Minister’s Office has come along with a voucher for Jerusalem’s Russian Compound, which is also home to a prison. There is hardly a senior official who has not been arrested, investigated, or put on trial. With such a record, who will put themselves forward for the role? Especially in an election period defined by a lack of action and vision.
Not long ago, Dermer promised that by April 2026, the war would already be behind us, and many peace agreements would be signed. There is, of course, another possibility: that he will once again extend his reserve duty in Netanyahu’s office.
