The chairman of the Central Election Commission, Judge Yitzhak Amit, ordered the Foreign Ministry’s employees’ committee to stop the sanctions related to the elections and promote the sending of ballot boxes to missions abroad. Judge Amit thereby accepted the petition of the State and Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Alon Oshfiz against the workers’ council.
The committee announced last week its intention to prevent the delivery of ballot boxes to the missions for the purpose of voting by embassy employees and envoys. On Friday, the petition was submitted and Judge Amit hastened to rule already on the eve of the holiday, and without scheduling a hearing for the parties.
Amit wrote that the decision of the respondents not to carry out actions related to the elections as part of their sanctions is puzzling to me. “As a reminder, the right to vote for a Knesset outside of Israel was reserved by the legislature for state employees or employees of national institutions, who are abroad on election day due to their work. As far as I know, a significant portion of those who have the right to choose the delegations are the employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs themselves, and the failure of the election materials to reach them on time will mainly harm them.”
The Foreign Ministry Employees’ Committee stated: “Following the forceful move by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, after the holiday all suspended sanctions will be reinstated. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is running away from responsibility for solving the crisis that is deepening and affecting the Israeli Foreign Service in these challenging days. The responsibility for the worsening of the sanctions lies at his door.”