Evan Gary Cohen is a South African-born Israeli linguist and a tenured professor of

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. Cohen was the spokesman to international media for Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

from July 2019 to March 2020. Cohen succeeded

David Keyes David Keyes () is an Israeli-American public relations representative and human rights activist. Keyes was the executive director of Advancing Human Rights, the co-founder of CyberDissidents.org, and the head of Movements.org, a platform for ...

in the position. Cohen's appointment was announced by Netanyahu on 14 July 2019. Cohen was not known to have any prior experience in public diplomacy. Several weeks before the announcement, Netanyahu saw Cohen being interviewed on the Israeli news channel i24 about Amir Ohana becoming the first gay Israeli cabinet minister and was impressed with Cohen's ability to present the

Likud Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon ...

worldview.

Political views

Before being appointed Netanyahu's spokesman, Cohen was the head of Likud Pride, the LGBT forum in the Likud party. In 2014, Cohen organized the Likud party's first international convention of LGBT activists in conservative parties. He has advocated for marriage equality and the right to surrogacy for gay men. In 2018, Cohen said the Netanyahu government's failure to include same-sex couples in a new surrogacy law was "shameful" and said that the bill should not have been passed. Cohen said he believes gay people should support whichever party fits their political ideology regardless of their sexual orientation. Cohen said he identified "with the more hard right" in Israeli politics.

Personal life

Cohen was born in Durban, South Africa. He moved to Israel when he was nine years old with his parents and three siblings. He was a captain in the intelligence branch of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

. He lives with his husband, Omri Rosenkrantz, in

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and many ...

. Cohen has a doctorate in linguistics from Tel Aviv University. His research focuses on

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

and heritage linguistics. Cohen is a competitive Scrabble player. He is the founder (1998) and director of the Tel Aviv Scrabble Club, and has been the highest-rated Israeli Scrabble player since 1991. Cohen has won several Israeli and international tournaments, and was the first player to represent Israel in the World Championships (1991), which he has done several times since.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Evan Living people South African emigrants to Israel Linguists from Israel Israeli LGBT rights activists Likud politicians People from Durban Tel Aviv University alumni Academic staff of Tel Aviv University Year of birth missing (living people) Israeli LGBT politicians South African LGBT politicians South African Jews Israeli people of South African-Jewish descent LGBT academics LGBT military personnel LGBT Jews