The publicized Jan. 21 appearance by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before Israeli ambassadors and heads of Israeli delegations abroad supplied immediate headlines, but top Foreign Ministry officials eagerly awaited the closed-door meeting with him. They hoped to hear that the prime minister, who also serves as the country’s foreign minister, would pledge to fight the Finance Ministry’s demand for significant cuts in their budget.

Their hopes were dashed. Netanyahu told them that despite the Foreign Ministry’s role in Israel’s recent diplomatic achievements, structural changes were required so that some of its budget could be used to fund diplomatic activities rather than embassies and staff. That means closing down seven Israeli offices abroad in 2019. The initial Finance Ministry demands would have meant the closure of 22 of Israel’s 103 foreign offices and dismissal of 20% of the ministry’s staff to save 126 million Israeli shekels ($37 million) from the total budget of 1.5 billion shekels ($440 million).

Negotiations yielded a compromise — only minor budget cuts, cancellation of a promised supplementary budget and closure of several offices (apparently seven, as aforementioned) to free up funding for diplomatic activities. The government approved this budget proposal some two weeks ago.

The Foreign Ministry was proud of its achievement, as reflected in the Dec. 21 vote by the UN General Assembly on a resolution condemning US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Because of extensive lobbying, 35 states abstained, 21 were no-shows and nine voted against the resolution. A majority of 128 states voted in favor, but Israel was pleased that many states had decided to abstain or stay away. Generally, it can only count on small, non-influential players like Micronesia for backing. That is why the ministry had different hopes of the budget and of Netanyahu.