Security officer resigns after locking consul in embassy
Guard working for the foreign ministry's embassy in Asia who locked a consul inside building after she failed to heed his instruction to exit is forced to resign from his post.
A security officer of one of the Israeli embassies in Asia was forced to resign after locking the consul in the building to "teach her a lesson," after she ignored his requests to leave the area on time.
The incident, which took place about a month ago, occurred when the officer instructed embassy employees to prepare to exit the facility about 15 minutes before the end of working hours at 5 pm.
All the embassy staff responded to the request of the security officer, but the consul ignored his instructions.
In an attempt to discipline the consul, who he claimed had ignored his request several times before, he locked her inside the embassy building.
At 5:12pm, upon attempting to leave the building, the consul found that the embassy doors were locked and telephoned the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Jerusalem in a panic to report that she had been locked inside the facility against her will.
Taking the incident seriously, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported directly to the ministry's director-general, Yuval Rotem, who instructed the ministry's director of the Department for Israelis Abroad, Amnon Kalmar, to clarify matters and resolve the incident immediately.
Due to routine communication difficulties in the country where the embassy is located, contact with the security officer was delayed until he reached his home. An hour and a half passed before the security officer returned to the embassy and opened the security doors, claiming that he intended to do so anyway.
It is not the first incident between the officer and the consul, and according to sources in the Foreign Ministry relations between the two were already tense.
The ministry reached the conclusion that the security officer had deviated from standard protocol, and he later asked on his own volition to resign from his post in the foreign country and return to Israel.
Sources in the ministry who know the security officer said that he was an outstanding worker who had contributed a great deal in the past and helped manage rescue operations of Israeli backpackers in Nepal.
According to the sources, the consul's conduct had not been exemplary, claiming that she had conducted matters in an unacceptable and improper manner.
The embassy employees and the security officers often coordinate delays in leaving, and in such cases it is customary to lock them in the building and return after a certain time, but in the case of the security officer and the consul, the incident was not coordinated.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said in response that "the case was handled by the relevant officials in the ministry in light of the worker's conduct at the mission. We will not share any further details due to their right to privacy."
