Lieberman fears a 'headless nail'
צילום: גיל יוחנן
Lieberman wants Foreign Ministry leaks probed
Speaking at Knesset's State Control Committee, FM addresses remarks attributed to senior ministry officials following plan to appoint Yisrael Beiteinu member as Israeli envoy in Cairo. 'Ambassadors' important telegrams reach the newspapers' front pages before they reach the minister,' he states
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss on Monday to probe the leaks from his office, on the backdrop of Lieberman's plan to appoint Yisrael Beiteinu member Shaul Kamisa as Israel's ambassador to Cairo.
Speaking at the Knesset's State Control Committee, Lieberman said, "I don’t need an ambassador if everything he sends in a telegram appears in the newspaper. One of the side effects of the Foreign Ministry is that important telegrams reach the front pages before reaching the minister. I would like to suggest to the comptroller to address this issue in his next report."
He added, "As for the external appointments, the political appointments, the foreign minister or his office have no control over them. They are turned over to an external committee of the Civil Service Commission, where neither the minister nor the office are represented.
"A minister's candidate is not unfit just because he is a minister's candidate," the foreign minister said. "If he meets the criteria – he meets them. If not – he doesn't. We appointed an ambassador in Washington and he met all the criteria. I have no problem. Each case is reviewed separately."
Lieberman criticized the fact that the foreign minister is unable to assess the performance of workers at different embassies, including the heads of the embassies.
"Sometimes you reach a situation of a 'headless nail'. A person gets a three-year contract, but how is he assessed? How can we determine that he's not functioning? How does the replacement mechanism work? The interest must be the State of Israel, not to suffer a lot of damage just because of some sort of compromise with the workers' union or with the media."
Addressing the training of Foreign Ministry cadets, Lieberman said that there was a great shortage in suitable people and that the ministry found it difficult to fulfill its needs.
"In the last cadet course there were 2,000 candidates for 35 positions. This definitely allows us to select and train the youths, but it takes a few years. It's not automatic.
"Unfortunately, I have encountered in several places people arriving not only without the language, but also without any suitable background. You should at least invest, learn something about the region you are serving. But arriving without knowledge, without the grounds and without the experience to study this region profoundly is impossible. Sometimes not everything is about formal education. Sometimes you also need a bit of common sense," he concluded.
