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Analysis

Who is Ronen Levy, Shin Bet’s shadow man and Israel’s new foreign ministry chief?

Ronen Levy, previously known only as "Maoz," is emerging from his career as a shadowing intelligence figure and conduit to Arab leaders, to become director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry.
An undated image of Ronen Levy.

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.

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