Is Netanyahu out to destroy Israel's Foreign Ministry?

Herb Keinon, "Is Netanyahu out to destroy Israel's Foreign Ministry?" jpost.com

Image from article, with caption: PM Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to foreign press about Operation Protective Edge.

A threatened strike inside the Foreign Ministry to protest erosion of authority and work conditions did not materialize this week but morale is at a nadir.

Excerpt:

In the current lineup of ministers, areas of authority that used to be covered by the Foreign Ministry are now being dealt with by others.

For instance, Education Minister Naftali Bennett is also minister of Diaspora affairs; Ze’ev Elkin is minister of Jerusalem affairs; Israel Katz is the minister of intelligence and atomic energy, and – most galling to many inside the ministry – Gilad Erdan is the minister of strategic affairs and public diplomacy, with a NIS 120m. budget to fight the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, more than all the money available to the Foreign Ministry for programming.

In addition, Tzachi Hanegbi is a minister without portfolio and is also dealing with diplomatic issues, such as economic cooperation with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu, Goder [Hanan Goder – who is head of the ministry’s workers’ committee] said, has eviscerated the ministry, with numerous ministers and deputy ministers now in charge of areas that were once the staple of the ministry. ...