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Israeli PM names new head of security agency

Xinhua, February 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday appointed a new chief of the country's shadowy Shin Bet security service.

Nadav Argaman, 55, currently serves as the deputy director of the Shin Bet. He will replace Yoram Cohen who will step down in May after five years in this position.

Argaman has been with the Shin Bet since 1983 and spent four years as a representative of the agency in the United States, according to a statement by the Prime Minister's Office.

Netanyahu said he is certain that under Argaman's leadership the Shin Bet "will continue to ensure Israel's security."

Argaman will need to face in his new position a five-month-long wave of Palestinian unrest which has so far claimed the lives of 26 Israelis and at least 160 Palestinians.

The Shin Bet is Israel's domestic security agency, while the renowned Mossad is its international spy agency. Endit