Netanyahu's one-man show leaves no room for foreign minister

For the last three years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has kept the foreign affairs portfolio for himself. Earlier this month, the Israeli press reported that Netanyahu had promised former Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz the foreign minister’s job in his next government. But Netanyahu’s office issued a denial, adding that the prime minister was “certainly pleased with his current foreign minister.”

Netanyahu is undoubtedly pleased with the foreign minister who stares back from his mirror each morning. Over the past decade, his has turned into the face of the nation. Most world leaders descending on the UN headquarters in New York City these days are accompanied by their foreign ministers. This double presence enables them to take advantage of the world’s largest diplomatic fair to strengthen their countries’ foreign relations and to present their political, security, economic, scientific and cultural wares.

The prime minister’s agenda is bursting at the seams. It includes issues relating to the occupation and the moribund diplomatic negotiations, the boycott movement and transfer of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, the Iranian-Syrian alliance and Islamic terrorism. Netanyahu, however, is an active foreign minister who takes part in numerous international forums and does not trust anyone to market his government’s policies.

“The Foreign Ministry has been relegated to the sidelines of Israeli diplomacy and only handles public diplomacy,” a top Israeli diplomat told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “Absent a foreign minister, the defense agencies dictate foreign policy,” he added. The senior diplomat gave the example of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, in which the decision-making process was overtaken by the security system, sidelining diplomatic considerations. The Winograd Commission that the government appointed to examine the political and military handling of the war termed its results “a serious missed opportunity.”