Former Shin Bet senior Ronen Levy was made director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday, becoming the first intelligence agent to hold this position, occupied over the years either by professional diplomats or political associates of the foreign minister.

Levy, 48, is considered close to newly appointed Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who served  as minister of intelligence affairs in the former Netanyahu government from 2020 to 2021. The new appointee played a key but clandestine role in creating the conditions and building the delicate relations for reaching the 2020 Abraham Accords, that normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. His ascendance is another signal from Netanyahu and Cohen about their intention to expand the accords to include other countries in the region.

In contrast to his predecessor Alon Ushpiz, who worked openly as a diplomat for more than three decades, Levy has spent his professional career in the shadows, holding sensitive positions in the Shin Bet, Israel's security agency. Only upon his appointment was his picture even released to the public.

Until his appointment, Israelis had only heard of "Maoz," Levy’s code name at Shin Bet. We now know that he joined the Shin Bet in his 20s after completing his military service and soon gained a reputation as a skilled handler. He climbed through the ranks to head the Gaza division. He was reportedly involved in a long list of operations in Gaza and the West Bank and is considered an expert on Hamas. Levy was appointed as the head of the Gaza unit in the Shin Bet in 2015.