Several days before the dissolution of the Knesset, Minister of Transport Miri Regev is pushing for the appointment of Avner Flor as Israel Railways chair, "Globes" has learned that the appointments committee today discussed and approved Flor, who is currently Israel Railways acting CEO as a director of the company.
Last year Flor was appointed by the board as acting CEO after working for years in the Ministry of Transport, where he was seen as close to Regev.
A meteoric rise
After her appointment to a second term as Minister of Transport, Regev tried to appoint her close associate Moshe Ben Zaken as director general of the ministry, but the appointments committee at the Civil Service Commission determined that he did not have enough experience. In a compromise between the commission and Regev, it was agreed that for six months Ben Zaken would serve as deputy director general of the ministry, and then he would be brought before the committee again, and he was finally appointed director general.
During that time, the person who served as the actual director general of the Ministry of Transport was Flor, with ministry officials saying that he agreed to every demand by the minister and approved it "professionally." It was also claimed that Flor was a front, while the person who actually ran the ministry at was Ben Zaken.
After Ben Zaken's appointment as director general, Flor became head of infrastructure administration in the Ministry of Transport, then acting CEO Israel Railways. He is now set to complete his meteoric rise under Regev by becoming chairman of Israel Railways, one of the largest and most important government companies, which employs 4,000 employees and is undergoing a severe crisis.
If the appointment is completed by the elections, Flor will replace Moshe Shimoni, who has been appointed chairman of Mekorot national water company in the round of appointments before the elections.
The government explains the move by saying that Flor is considered a trusted advisor of Regev - but also a non-executive chairman who is not expected to be involved in the daily management of the company, unlike his predecessor in the position. In this way, the government hopes to attract a strong and independent CEO, after the two search procedures that were published did not include the names of stature in the field, and ended without any candidate being selected.
Israel Railways is seen as a company in crisis, and inquiries conducted with potential candidates raised concerns about the involvement of the minister and the board of directors and criminal liability that might be imposed on the CEO in the event of a serious malfunction, and there is no shortage of such mishaps.
Israel Railways has been in crisis for years. The workers' committee is strong and linked to the ministry, the board of directors is hostile to the CEOs, and there have been many attempts at political appointments and interference in management decisions, and tens of billions of shekels are waiting for tenders to be published. In the meantime, passengers are being harmed by the declining quality of services and the unsatisfactory pace of project implementation.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 13, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
