Foreign Minister Wanted

Editorial, Jerusalem Post

Image from, with caption: Gilad Erdan on a police visit

Excerpt:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to spread his multiple talents thinly among sometimes competing responsibilities while being forced to spend valuable time occupied by a slew of corruption probes Israel’s relations with African nations, with India and China, and overall with the US are remarkably productive due to Netanyahu’s impressive juggling abilities, and his careful maneuvering with Russia’s Vladimir Putin has kept Israel inoculated against the Syrian conflict. It is, however, undeniable that the professional manager of Israel’s foreign relations, the Foreign Ministry, continues to be undermined to the county’s detriment by the prime minister’s reluctance to yield some of his powers. ...

In practical terms, it is worth noting that, under the present chaotic system, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan has also served as minister of strategic affairs and public diplomacy, whose NIS 120 million budget to fight the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is greater than all the money available to the Foreign Ministry for programming. This undermining of the Foreign Ministry has stripped the country of some of its best resources in the worldwide battle for public opinion. ...