Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu will appoint Likud Party veteran Tzachi Hanegbi, a close confidant, as head of Israel’s National Security Council.
Hanegbi, 65, has filled a number of ministerial posts throughout his career, including the health, communications and justice portfolios. He has also served as chairman of several Knesset committees, including the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Finance Committee.
The appointment comes despite Hanegbi’s poor showing in the Likud’s party primaries, in which he finished at No. 46 on the party list, too low to enter the Knesset in the Nov. 1 elections.
Other people who had been floated for the position were former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Ron Dermer and Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, former deputy chief of the IDF general staff and military secretary to Netanyahu.