Foreign Ministry initiates disciplinary measures over political tweets by diplomats

Under civil service regulations, civil servants are forbidden from publicly taking political positions.

By HERB KEINON
Twitter logo (photo credit: TWITTER)
Twitter logo
(photo credit: TWITTER)
Two Israeli diplomats, including the country’s ambassador to Switzerland, were recalled Wednesday to face disciplinary measures for posting blatantly political comments on their Twitter accounts.
A third employee, who works at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, is to face disciplinary actions for the same reason.
The decision to take measures that could eventually lead to their dismissal came following an NRG report on the tweets Wednesday by Ariel Kahana.
The three are Yigal Caspi, a senior diplomat who is the envoy to Switzerland, Assaf Moran and Yaron Gamburg.
Caspi, for instance, retweeted posts last month mocking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress and for harming ties with the US, as well as another that slammed Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman for his treatment of his ministers.
As of Wednesday evening, his Twitter account only had some 250 followers.
Moran, a political counselor at Israel’s embassy in New Delhi, posted a tweet this week quoting a public relations man saying that Netanyahu is trying to do everything except talk about the issues. His Twitter account was taken down Wednesday night.
And Gamburg, formerly Israel’s spokesman in Paris and currently working in the ministry’s political research division, wrote on his account that Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennett was, among other things, delusional, messianic, violent and homophobic. His account was also unaccessible Wednesday evening.
One ministry source said that when these tweets were brought to Liberman’s attention, he decided to immediately initiate disciplinary procedures. This, the source said, will likely trigger a response in defense of the employees from the worker’s committee.
Under civil service regulations, civil servants are forbidden from publicly taking political positions.