Israel’s next envoy to Egypt is son of a spy
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP)
The man named as Israel’s new ambassador to Egypt is the son of a spy who had been sentenced to death in Lebanon but was eventually part of a prisoner swap, a foreign ministry official said on Monday.
The nomination of Yitzhak Levanon, 65, still has to be formally approved, the official, who asked not to be named, said.
A fluent Arabic speaker, Levanon was born in Lebanon, where his now 92-year-old mother was tortured and sentenced to death in 1961 after being found guilty of spying for Israel for 14 years, the official said.
Levanon’s mother was released in 1967 as part of a prisoner exchange in the aftermath of the Six Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors that year. She now lives in Jerusalem.
Levanon is set to replace ambassador Shalom Cohen, who served an extra year because a replacement could not be found.
Levanon recently served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva and was the director of the Foreign Ministry’s Arab media division.
Source: Alarabiya.net | Middle East
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