Evan Cohen

Evan Gary Cohen (Hebrew: אוון כהן) is a South African-born Israeli linguist and a tenured professor of linguistics at Tel Aviv University. Cohen was the spokesman to international media for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from July 2019 to March 2020. Cohen succeeded David Keyes 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. 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. He moved to Israel when he was nine years old with his parents and three siblings. Cohen has a doctorate in linguistics from Tel Aviv University. His research focuses on phonology, phonetics and heritage linguistics. 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.