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).
