Diplomats to PM: Save Foreign Service

Twenty veteran ambassadors appeal to Netanyahu, ask him to intervene in crisis over Foreign Ministry employees' working conditions

Ronen Medzini|Published: 01.15.11 , 17:57

Veterans of Israeli Foreign Service join their colleagues in the struggle to improve Foreign Ministry working conditions – Twenty senior diplomats sent a piercing letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, requesting that he intervene in the looming crisis.

"The Foreign Service personnel receive a humiliating salary from the same country that sends them to one of its most difficult and important missions" wrote the diplomats, adding, "Our status and wages are being steadily and systematically ground to dust.

"One cannot live respectfully with such a salary," they stated, "This forces many of the young diplomats to live on the expense of their parents, or in many cases give up and leave the Foreign Service – throwing away the huge investment and leading to the loss of valuable and trained manpower."

Among the signatories were Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Meron Reuben, the Ambassador to the EU Ran Curiel, the Ambassador to Britain Ron Prosor, as well as Israeli ambassadors serving in Turkey, China, Spain, Egypt, Jordan, Brazil, Argentina, India, Japan and South Africa.

"Almost all of the signatories have seniority and diplomatic experience of 25 years or more," they wrote. "We – the 'elders of the tribe' – are on the last straight of our career, however our concern is for the future, and the next generations of the Israeli Foreign Service," the letter read.

The diplomats called on Netanyahu to personally intervene in order to find a solution. "We are deeply concerned over how the negotiations are conducted. Leaving the issue at the hands of the Finance Ministry may result in a critical and long-lasting stain on Israel's status around the world," they concluded.