Prime Minister's Office Director General Locker Informs Prime Minister
Netanyahu of his Desire to Step Down
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister's Office Director General Harel Locker, today (Wednesday, 19
November 2014), informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his desire to
step down after three years in office.

Locker, who came to the public service from the business sector, became PMO
Director General in 2011. He coordinated government staff work on various
socio-economic issues and represented Prime Minister Netanyahu on these
issues vis-à-vis ministers, ministries, local authority heads, foreign
investors and the business sector. Locker worked to create growth engines,
develop the periphery and advance macroeconomic reforms. As PMO Director
General, he was the address for arbitration, clarification, bridging gaps
and removing impediments in the work of the government.

Among the projects Locker advanced on behalf of Prime Minister Netanyahu
were: reform of non-perishable food imports, reducing the use of cash,
reform in public sector personnel, the plan to reduce government regulation
and bureaucracy, moving the IDF south and evacuating IDF bases in
high-demand areas, a plan for the socio-economic development of the Negev
and the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, enacting greater transparency and
oversight of the security budget, the fiber-optic and Digital Israel
initiatives, advancing the natural gas sector, planning and building
reforms, housing reforms, free kindergarten for three-to-four-year-olds,
promoting economic relations with Japan, an economic development plan for
the minorities sector and industrial privatization.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "I thank Harel for his productive and welcome
efforts in one of the most complicated positions in the public sector. For
three years, and during two terms in which I served as prime minister, Harel
was exceptional in promoting many issues that were critical for the state of
Israel and did so with a sense of mission, professionalism, modesty and
great success."

PMO Locker said, "This has been an intense and fascinating period and I had
the great privilege of assisting the Prime Minister at important junctures
in public administration. I thank the Prime minister for choosing me for one
of the key positions in the public sector of the State of Israel and for
giving me the confidence and backing to promote important issues over the
years."