The Foreign Ministry announced at a Knesset subcommittee on Tuesday that it was forced to shut down its global outreach activities for budgetary reasons. The Foreign Ministry's Deputy Director General of Media and Public Affairs Division, Emmanuel Nachshon explained that Israel invests in the ministry about 10% of the amount invested in tourism.
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The Foreign Ministry has already stopped its activity on social media in Spanish, Persian and Russian languages in the midst of war.
"In the past month and a half, the digital team in the Spanish language led by Gabi Shukrun worked night and day in order to assist you in the work of public diplomacy, in addition to the extensive activity in the digital arena (1,100 posts and tweets in Spanish that received over 200 million views on social media managed from headquarters in six weeks of war)," according to an internal Foreign Ministry document.
The document continued: "Yesterday we were informed that the budget intended for the Spanish language has run out (in addition to the Russian and Persian languages). The parties in charge of financial approvals are not at all prepared to discuss increasing the quota of hours or covering the payment for the hours that the people actually worked. Therefore, as unfortunate as it may be, I ask that the Spanish digital team only receive tasks that have to do with the digital field in Spanish."
"In war you have to act fast"
The chairman of the committee, Knesset member Ze'ev Elkin, asked during the discussion to direct about 200 million shekels to the Foreign Ministry, and stated that "if there is a title for this discussion, it is this: The State of Israel decided at the most critical time, during the war, to disable the activities of the Foreign Ministry. Advocacy is a war front. I don't believe there is no solution for this. It's like telling the IDF, don't fire your weapon because it's expensive."
Elkin commented on the financial opinion in the committee. "In war, you have to act quickly, there is no time for business as usual. When the Foreign Ministry is shut down, it has to be solved. It is impossible for it to be shut down even for one day. You have to solve it, certainly when it comes to the amount of 10 million shekels."
"My request to you is to get into the thick of it and solve it within 10 days. The Foreign Ministry deserves a solution in a matter of days, preferably hours. This system will not function without financial investment. If we do not win this war, there will be no tourism," he warned.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid also commented. "There are things that the Foreign Ministry can do that don't cost a penny: interviews on foreign networks; giving briefings to foreign reporters; posting on the prime minister's and other govenment minister's social media accounts (millions of followers); working with influential celebrities such as Gal Gadot and Noa Tishby and more, initiating Zoom meetings with Jewish communities and with Israelis to give them tools for the war on the truth. Stop whining for God's sake, start working," he tweeted on his X social media platform account.
The Foreign ministry Responded: "Contrary to publications in the media, yesterday the foreign ministry and the finance ministry's budget division agreed to advance a budget of 100 million shekels for the activities of the ministry that will allow it to carry out all its tasks in the midst of war, including advocacy activities and maintain Israel's legitimacy to act."