Image by getty images

Anyone who has gotten a look at the work environment around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent years will have easily seen that it has been almost totally devoid of women.

The entire cadre of senior managers that Netanyahu has appointed to his bureau since returning to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2009 has been made up only of men. His chiefs of staff and bureau chiefs have been men—Natan Eshel, Ari Harrow, Gil Sheffer and Eyal Haimovsky. And the directors general of the Prime Minister’s Office, Eyal Gabbai and Harel Locker, are both male, as have been his cabinet secretaries, Zvi Hauser and Avichi Mandelblit.

But men also rule in other areas of the Prime Minister’s Office. All of Netanyahu’s media adviser appointments have been men—Yossi Levy, Nir Hefetz, Gidi Shmerling and Liran Dan. Policy advisers Uzi Arad, Ron Dermer and Ya’akov Amidror are male. Netanyahu appointed Michael Oren as Israeli ambassador to Washington and he is being replaced by Dermer. And Netanyahu also chose men, Jacob Turkel and Manuel Trajtenberg, to head major public policy panels.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Actually, the last women who worked in a key, influential position close to Netanyahu was current Knesset member Ayelet Shaked, who served as the head of Netanyahu’s office as leader of the opposition.

She left after a year and a half due to friction and tension with Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, among other reasons

For more, go to Haaretz

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount