Shmuel Hollander
Photo: Dan Balilti
Foreign Ministry appointments frozen
Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander orders ministry to delay appointments until further notice: ‘Decision aims to prevent those who have not passed the ministry’s preparatory course from obtaining posts and preventing affairs similar to the one involving the consul in Holland, who sexually harassed young women during his term’
Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander ordered the Foreign Ministry Wednesday to freeze all appointments until further notice.
Hollander said he had reached the decision following a meeting with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz last month.
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“Due to a number of recent scandals in the Foreign Ministry, a committee was established to look into the appointments,” a Civil Service Commission spokesman said.
“The decision aims to prevent those who have not passed the ministry’s preparatory course from obtaining posts and preventing affairs similar to the one involving the consul in Holland, who sexually harassed young women during his term.
'Appointments predetermined'
“According to the State Comptroller’s report, which will be published in a few days, there were cases in the ministry in which drivers became consuls,” the spokesman said, adding that the Foreign Ministry is the only ministry that is permitted to appoint employees without tenure.
The Foreign Ministry said in response that "the suggestion by the representative would mean that unprofessional people would be appointed, which would harm the ministry."
At the start of the month, a worker's committee in the ministry declared a worker's dispute, based on a lack of solutions to a series of problems, especially in the field of appointments.
One of the main claims of the worker's committee is that appointments already made were predetermined.
A source from the ministry said that "only a few members of the worker's committee bother to look into the personal files of the candidates."
