1 \ Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen decided to appoint Ronen Levy (AKA “Maoz”) as the new director general of the foreign ministry. He will replace veteran career diplomat Alon Ushpiz who held the post in the last three years 
2 \ Why it matters: Between 2018-2020 Levy was Netanyahu’s special envoy to the Arab world and Africa. He worked undercover and mostly in the shadows and behind the scenes and used the Nom De Guerre “Maoz”. His real identity and photo were released today for the first time
3 \ Levy (48) grew up as a spy in Israel’s domestic intelligence service the Shin Bet & worked there for more than 2 decades. He was a handler of Palestinian agents, led many secret operation in Gaza & became one of the leading experts on Hamas in Israel's intelligence community
4 \ In 2018 Levy moved to the National Security Council in the PM office & started working on Israel’s secret ties in the Arab world. Levy led the secret talks which brought the renewal of diplomatic ties with Chad and organized Netanyahu’s historic trip to the country in 2019
5 \ Levy, who speaks fluent Arabic, worked on Israel’s secret relations with Sudan. He organized the meeting between Netanyahu & Sudan’s leader General al-Burhan in Uganda in February 2020. This meeting paved the way for Sudan joining the Abraham Accords 8 months later
6 \ Together with then NSA Meir Ben Shabbatt Levy managed to create an intimate relationship with Moroccan foreign minister Nasser Bourita and the senior adviser to the king of Morocco Fouad el-Himma. This contributed to the renewal of relations with Morocco in December 2020
7 \ Levy was Netanyahu’s contact person to the Egyptian intelligence service when it came to the situation in Gaza and the efforts to maintain calm. He was also involved in the efforts to broker a prisoner release deal with Hamas. END
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
