Eli Cohen (politician, born 1972)

Eli Cohen
Cohen in 2017
Ministerial roles
2017–2020	Minister of the Economy & Industry
2020–2021	Minister of Intelligence
2022–2024	Minister of Foreign Affairs
Faction represented in the Knesset
2015–2019	Kulanu
2019–2023	Likud
Personal details
Born	(1972-10-03) 3 October 1972 Holon, Israel

Cohen meeting with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of Sudan, January 2021

Eli Cohen (Hebrew: אֵלִי כֹּהֵן, born 3 October 1972) is an Israeli politician. A member of the Knesset since 2015, he is currently the head of the Ministry of Energy. Cohen previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2022 to 2024. Cohen previously served as Minister of Intelligence (2020–2021) and Minister of the Economy and Industry (2017–2020).

Biography

Cohen was born in Holon to a family of immigrants from Morocco. He did his military service as a major in the Israeli Air Force, after which he studied at Tel Aviv University, gaining a BA in Accounting and an MBA majoring in financing and accounting. He also obtained a bachelor's degree in management and economics from the Open University of Israel.

In 2000 he began to work at BDO Global as Head of the Economic Division. In 2003 he joined the credit rating company Maalot S&P and headed the Corporations Division. In 2007 he was appointed Senior Vice President of the Israel Land Development Company.

Political career

Prior to the 2015 elections he joined the new Kulanu party, and was placed eighth on its list. He was elected to the Knesset as the party won ten seats. After being elected, he was appointed Chairman of the Knesset Reforms Committee. He was also a member of the Knesset Finance Committee and the Joint Committee for the Defense Budget. In 2018, as chairman of the Reforms Committee, Cohen welcomed legislation to increase competition in the banking system. Cohen was placed second on the Kulanu list for the April 2019 elections, and was re-elected despite the party being reduced to four seats. He was re-elected on the Likud list in September 2019 and March 2020.

Minister of Economy and Industry

In January 2017 Cohen replaced Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon as Minister of Economy and Industry. In this capacity, Cohen launched a flagship program to establish development centers for high-tech in the periphery in cooperation with the Israel Innovation Authority. Cohen made it clear that for Israeli high-tech to live up to its potential, it was imperative to increase the number of people employed in technological sectors among the general population and in the periphery in particular."

During Cohen's term Israel signed free trade agreements with several countries. One was the updated Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA).

Minister of Intelligence

In May 2020 Cohen was appointed Minister of Intelligence in the Netanyahu–Gantz government, serving until the formation of a new government in June 2021. During this period, Cohen told reporters he believed that Israel was “very close to normalizing ties with Sudan.” In January 2021, Cohen headed an Israeli delegation to Sudan, meeting with the Sudanese President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Defense Minister Yassin Ibrahim, and other Sudanese defense and intelligence officials.

Foreign Minister

Cohen with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jerusalem, 30 January 2023

Cohen with UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Jerusalem, 11 September 2023

On 29 December 2022 Cohen was sworn in as Foreign Minister on behalf of the new Likud government, in rotation with Israel Katz. In February 2023, Cohen flew to Sudan and met with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, president of the Transitional Sovereign Council, to lay the groundwork for a peace agreement between Israel and Sudan. After the massive earthquake in Turkey in February, Cohen met with Turkish president Erdogan in Ankara and announced that Israeli airlines would resume direct flights to Turkey. In February, Cohen acknowledged that after months of talks, Oman announced that Israeli airlines would be permitted to pass through its airspace. Cohen also confirmed that Papua New Guinea, which established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1978, would be opening its first embassy in Jerusalem in 2023.

In March 2023 Cohen met the UK Foreign Secretary in London to sign the 2030 Roadmap for Israel-UK Bilateral Relations which will increase cooperation in technology, research and development, security and cyber. In April 2023, Cohen inaugurated Israel’s first embassy in Turkmenistan. No Israeli foreign minister has visited this Muslim majority country since 1994. The newly built embassy is located in the capital city, Ashgabat, ten miles from Turkmenistan’s border with Iran. Later that month, Cohen paid a three-day visit to Baku in Azerbaijan after his counterpart visited Jerusalem in March for the inauguration of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Israel, the first embassy of a Shia Muslim country in Israel. Cohen is the first Israeli minister to visit Ukraine and meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since the outbreak of the war.

In May 2023 he signed a customs agreement with the United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Israel to further the trade agreement signed in 2022. Cohen also flew to India with an 36-person economic delegation whose primary goal was promoting water management and agricultural projects. During his visit in Delhi, Cohen held bilateral meetings with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other high-ranking officials. Visiting the Philippines in June 2023, Cohen met with President Marcos to discuss strengthening bilateral ties and exploring new opportunities created by the Abraham Accords and the opening of the Saudi-Oman corridor for flights from Israel, which significantly cuts flight times to and from East Asia.

In August 2023 Cohen revealed that he had attended a secret meeting in Rome with Libyan Foreign Minister Najla El Mangoush, organized by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to discuss normalizing relations between the two countries. The news triggered mass protests in Libya, leading to Mangoush's dismissal. Cohen was criticized in Israel for what was seen as a breach of diplomatic practice. An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said the timing of Cohen's announcement had not been coordinated with Mangoush, catching her off-guard.

On 24 November 2023, during their visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo criticized Israel’s attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip. Cohen condemned the remarks by the two European leaders as "false statements" made "in support of terrorism" and said he had summoned the ambassadors of Spain and Belgium to explain the comments. Cohen said on social media that "Israel is acting according to international law and fighting a murderous terrorist organisation worse than ISIS."

Minister of Energy and Infrastructure

On 1 January 2024, Cohen assumed the role of the Minister of Energy, following the Knesset's approval of a power-sharing agreement with Israel Katz between the Energy Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Personal life

Cohen is married to Anat, with whom he has four children. They are residents of Holon.

Awards and recognition

In 2018 Cohen was on The Marker's list of Israel's "100 Most Influential People."

See also

• Azerbaijan–Israel relations
• Israel–Sudan relations
• Israel–United Arab Emirates relations

External links

• Eli Cohen on the Knesset website
• Inaugural address