For the first time in Israeli history, Workers Union shuts down ministry building in Jerusalem and 103 embassies worldwide
For a tiny country that depends so much on international trade and travel, allowing the Foreign Office to be shut down is, in a word, "בושה" - a national shame, an embarrassment for the state.
According to the Times of Israel, Ministry officials also said Pope Francis had canceled his May trip to Israel due to the labor sanctions, but Vatican officials later said the visit was still on. Israeli embassies and consulates stopped servicing Israelis abroad and diplomats were instructed not to arrange or conduct any work meetings and cease sending diplomatic cables or to engage in pro-Israel public diplomacy.
On the other hand, several foreign ministers and other officials have canceled their planned trips to Israel, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly was forced to put the brakes on an upcoming visit to South America.
The Foreign Office union puts its position on the now static government Web page, stating:
As of March 23, 2014 at 15:00 a general strike has been declared at the Foreign Ministry. The Ministry in Jerusalem will remain closed and Israel's missions abroad will not open as of Monday morning, March 24.
As of Tuesday, March 4, 2014, Israel's diplomats will no longer engage with foreign representatives, take care of official visits of any kind, either in Israel or overseas, issue visas or provide any consular services. Requests for special dispensation should be sent by e-mail tounionmfa@israel.org
This is just part of an extended list of organizational measures which will take effect immediately, after the Ministry of Finance caused the failure of a seven-month mediation process led by the former Chief Justice of the Labor Court.
It may seem unusual for the diplomatic service of a country to become engaged in a labor dispute. Out of our deep commitment to presenting Israel's interests abroad, Israel's international standing and national security, we, the Israeli diplomats, insist that our reasonable demands be met.
There will be no updates on this channel until further notice. Regular updates will resume upon a satisfactory resolution of the dispute.
The government page links to a Jerusalem Post editorial titled Save the Foreign Ministry.
The Times of Israel article states that “The workers entirely locked the Foreign Ministry and Israeli embassies in the world, for the first time in Israel’s history,” the union declared in a dramatic statement headlined “The State of Israel’s first line of defense is falling apart.”
It continued Under the full strike, nobody will be allowed into the Foreign Ministry building, “including the political leadership and the ministry’s management,” according to the statement.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman called the development an “unfortunate decision of the workers union, reflecting hysteria.”
Had something similar happened in the U.S., the government would have stepped in to replace - in the U.S.' case, State Department - recalcitrant clerks (as it has done on several occasions in the past when government workers walked off the job.
True, tourist travel to and from Israel will continue for all those countries that enjoy "no pre-arrival visa requirement" status. For U.S. citizen's that status may be in jeopardy now that the U.S. has made it more difficult than usual for Israelis to enter the country; Israel could easily implement the same difficulties.
When I lived and worked in Israel (1975-1979), the Import/Export clerks struck and my employer, Tadiran, almost laid off a large portion of its workforce - including this scrivener. (When Labor and the socialists ruled - from 1948 until Menachem Began became Prime Minister on 20 June 1977 - Israel and Italy were in a race for the title of "Most Strike-Bound Country." With Begin aS PM, Italy had the title all to itself.)
While most visitors to Israel will not be impacted by the strike, all diplomatic activity is at a stand-still. Israelis who want a passport to travel will have to put their plans aside for the duration.
If the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post articles are accurate, the battle is between the Finance Ministry and the Foreign Ministry.
Both ministries are headed by Members of Knesset (MKs); Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beiteinu heads the Foreign Ministry while Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid party is Finance Minister - both ministers head their respective parties and both parties are in the Likud-led coalition.
It would seem than even in Israeli politics the two leaders of coalition parties ought to be able to come to an agreement that might possibly satisfy the union without causing more inflation and damage to the Israeli budget.
Truth in blogging: I once was in a union - the Newspaper Guild. I paid my dues but when I had a grievance, the union was nowhere to be found, ergo I am not, in most cases, a union sympathizer.
I can sympathize - a little - with the Foreign Office union if it has been in honest negotiations with the government for an extended period; however, I am privy to neither the union's demands nor Israel's budget constraints.
Meanwhile, Italy needs to watch its title - strikes seem to be coming more often in Israel; it seemed only yesterday medics went on strike.
