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It is not yet known who Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to appoint as next Foreign Minister, but it is clear that this minister would have work to do, since he would inherit from paralyzed department with a budget of 330 million NIS. deficit.
The Prime Minister is expected to announce his choice of minister in the coming days, after holding the portfolio of foreign affairs since the establishment of the current government in May 2015. Among the candidates include Yisrael Katz, Yuval Steinitz, Tzachi HaNegbi or Yariv Levin – all Likud members currently holding ministerial positions. Regardless of who it is, it remains to be seen whether they would receive a three-month temporary appointment or a permanent position until the end of the government's term in November 2019.
The budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been reduced by NIS 12 million in recent government-wide cuts.
In the past two years, the department's budget has been reduced five times.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Due to the huge budget deficit, the ministry will not have the necessary funds to bring delegations of foreign journalists or political decision-makers to Israel, to organize conferences, to celebrate Independence Day, to bring in distinguished personalities in Israel, send Israeli diplomats on mission. abroad, providing public diplomacy, providing medical badistance and supplies in disaster-affected areas, renovating the homes of ambbadadors or hiring external consultants.
In January, all activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be suspended. The ministry will not be able to open its cadet course to train and prepare diplomats for careers in the Israeli diplomatic service, while the Agency for International Cooperation for Development will not be able to open most of its courses in Israel and abroad. experts sent by Israel abroad will be considerably reduced.
If that were not enough, the Foreign Ministry announced that it would cease providing services abroad to the ministries, and subordinate any service provided to a "commission" of 12% of the expenditure. In turn, the Ministry of Finance wants to fine the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying it was trying to source a source of income.
In addition to the functioning of the ministry, inflexible spending has also been affected by the budget deficit, including rents for office space, contracts with suppliers, car rentals, etc.
"Netanyahu has demolished the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and now pbades it on to someone else whoever occupies this position must condition the appointment to a commitment of funding because it would have difficulty functioning (if not)" , said a ministry official. .
Last week, members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense asked Netanyahu about the crisis in the Foreign Ministry and its inability to function because of the budget deficit.
The Prime Minister was surprised by the question and asked the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yuval Rotem, if that was true. When Rotem, sitting next to Netanyahu, nodded, the Prime Minister seemed surprised.
A year ago, at a conference of Israeli ambbadadors, Israel's ambbadador to Cameroon, Ran Gidor, asked Netanyahu how he was supposed to operate with a budget of only $ 15,000 . The Prime Minister replied: "You are a genius, you can do it without money." He then turned to General Manager Rotem and told him, "Yuval, deal with this." Gidor received $ 500 more in his budget.
Netanyahu also fired the Foreign Ministry. Secret talks with Muslim countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel are through the Mossad or the National Security Council. The Mossad organized Netanyahu's visit to Oman, while the Chadian President's invitation to Israel was conducted by National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabat.
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