Israel’s Netanyahu ousts top aide after he allegedly made racist remarks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday sacked his chief of staff following the publication of leaked comments in which he allegedly made racist remarks.

“Ziv Agmon will leave his post in the coming days once his successor, Ido Norden, takes office,” Netanyahu said in a post on X late on Sunday.

Agmon, who has been serving as Netanyahu’s acting chief of staff and spokesperson, provoked outrage last week after reportedly referring to Jews of Moroccan descent as “baboons” and disparaging members of Netanyahu’s Likud party, as well as the prime minister’s wife and son.

Norden’s appointment represented a sudden reversal.

Less than two hours earlier, the Likud party’s official Telegram channel had quoted Netanyahu as saying he wanted Agmon to remain in the post for the sake of “stability and continuity”.

Norden, however, has drawn scrutiny of his own.

Israeli journalists reported on Monday that he had created fake X accounts to promote his book on the “deep state,” in which he attributes Israel’s failure to prevent the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, to shadowy institutional forces.

Norden’s appointment is still subject to vetting by the Shin Bet domestic security service.

A lawyer and economist, Norden chairs the Forum of Senior Officials, a right-wing think-tank that advocates for greater ideological diversity within Israel’s public sector and opposes what it describes as its “uniformity of thought”.

Netanyahu has faced repeated turmoil within his staff over the years. This latest shake-up follows a series of controversies surrounding the prime minister’s inner circle.

Recently, his close ally Tzachi Braverman — designated as Israel’s future ambassador to London — was questioned by police over alleged interference in a leak investigation linked to the Gaza war.

Netanyahu’s inner circle has also faced ongoing scrutiny in the so-called “Qatargate” scandal, where former aides are accused of taking Qatari money to improve Qatar’s image in Israel during the conflict.