Employees within Israel’s foreign and defense ministries have begun a work slowdown designed to get the attention of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon.
The job actions come as a protest against budget cuts in various government departments due to employees’ concerns about the impact the squeeze will have on their work. In response to the cost-cutting measures, the foreign and defense ministry employees are refusing to assist the prime minister on official visits overseas.
“Another demonstration of the budgetary disaster in which the Foreign Ministry is subject to and the tough costs that Israeli foreign policy is paying as a result,” wrote Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon in a Hebrew-language post on Twitter.
עוד המחשה לאסון התקציבי בו נתון משרד החוץ ולמחירים הקשים שמדיניות החוץ הישראלית משלמת כתוצאה מכך . https://t.co/GpS9VfVtBb
— Emmanuel Nahshon (@EmmanuelNahshon)
The Foreign Ministry has already canceled a NIS 2.7 million student exchange program involving 50 nations, according to a report by diplomatic correspondent Ariel Kahane in the Hebrew-language daily Yisrael Hayom.