Ex-Security Chief: Israeli Diplomacy 'Collapsing'

Jerusalem, 8 March, 2017 (TPS) -- Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Avi Dichter (Likud) said Wednesday that committee members are “very concerned” about Israel’s foreign diplomacy establishment and called on Prime Minister Netanyahu, who also serves as foreign minister, to calm members’ fears that the foreign ministry is in free fall.

“[We on the committee] have heard very worrying things from foreign ministry professionals in Israel and abroad, to the point that people are even talking about a ‘collapse,’” said Dichter, a former head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and close Likud Party ally of Netanyahu, before the prime minister was scheduled to appear before the committee. “It is critical for us, as the relevant Knesset committee, to hear your thoughts on this topic, as prime minister and foreign minister. We are very worried, and I hope you can give us some answers that will allay our concerns.”

Dichter’s statement comes on the heels of repeated attempts by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to summon Netanyahu for questioning in recent months about a series of apparent diplomatic failures. In December, opposition leaders lambasted Netanyahu for failing to prevent the passage of UN Security Resolution 2334, and then for failing to convene Israel’s diplomatic corps to craft a unified response to it. Three weeks later, senior diplomats and Foreign Ministry officials were left out of the loop as Israel prepared for a possible onslaught in the last days of the Obama administration.