It's hard to understand why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman stood on the sidelines for many long months watching the Foreign Ministry employees' justified struggle to improve their salaries and work conditions. Precisely at a time when Israel needs to gather all its strength for its public diplomacy fight against boycotts and de-legitimization around the world, the Foreign Ministry announced a general strike for the first time March 24.
The unprecedented decision to strike by the Foreign Ministry workers committee, including all its 103 embassies and delegations abroad, should serve as a wake-up call to the prime minister and foreign minister. Both of them must come to the aid of the diplomatic corps and bring about a speedy end to this crisis. Precisely Netanyahu and Liberman, who are on the front lines of the diplomatic process and aware of Israel's inferiority to Palestinian public diplomacy, should have known better. They should have shown more sensitivity to the distress of the Foreign Service workers who are their partners on this front.
