One of the chief challenges Mr Regev faced during his term as ambassador in London was maintaining a relationship with the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
Mr Regev is the only Israeli official to have met Mr Corbyn, in July 2016, after the scheduled meeting was postponed multiple times by the leader of the opposition’s office. One of those present at the meeting said after “Mark did most of the talking, but I’m not sure Corbyn paid much attention.”
He was careful not to speak of Mr Corbyn in public but in 2018, at a Labour Friends of Israel reception, made a barely veiled reference to him when he said that “from Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan and Foot, to Kinnock, Blair and Brown; Labour leaders have supported Israel’s cause precisely because it is an anti-racist cause... when self-proclaimed anti-racists overlook this fundamental truth and claim that we Zionists do not know history, ironically it is they who have not studied history or learnt from it.”
Mr Regev’s new position has yet to be announced. His deputy Sharon Barli is to fill in as Chargee d’affaires until Ms Hotovely’s arrival, which is expected towards the end of the summer.
