How exactly did the Foreign Ministry spend 260 million shekels ($66.5 million) on “suppliers and consultants” in 2014? Let us count the ways, or try to.

Nudged by the Movement for the Freedom of Information, the ministry handed over a list of over 8,000 expenditure items, though it skimped on detail. But some pretty weird items can be gleaned nonetheless.

The Foreign Ministry spending includes trips overseas and hotels costing tens of thousands of shekels for ministry employees in the line of duty. It also includes purchases made for the office of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

These, for example, include 934 shekels on jasmine green tea for Lieberman’s bureau in 2014, and 560 shekels for instant soup. The office evidently needed satin tablecloths costing 900 shekels and potted plants costing 2,700 more.

Open gallery view Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Credit: Emil Salman

Now, the Foreign Ministry works to promote agricultural development in emerging nations, with the Agriculture Ministry. In 2014 the Foreign Ministry budgeted 1.4 million shekels for the center - plus 42,000 shekels for Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir to travel to South America. Not too shabby!

This year the ministry bought carpets worth some 10,000 shekels for diplomatic missions abroad, from Carmel Carpets – and spent 11,000 shekels sending the things.

The ministry also approved 4 million shekels for a nonprofit company called Faces of Israel (300,000 shekels paid so far) to host overseas visitors “with influence” in Israel. Faces of Israel was founded in 2010 with support from Yuli Edelstein, then information and diaspora-affairs minister, and Ze’ev Elkin, then deputy foreign minister — both members of the Likud party. Its purpose, Faces says, is to “explain the legitimacy of Zionism and the State of Israel as the nation of the Jewish people” and improve Israel’s image.

Now, that actually is one of the Foreign Ministry’s jobs. But evidently it wanted to outsource some of the burden. In recent months, a number of supposedly influential delegations have visited Israel under the organization’s auspices, including journalists from Brazil, members of U.S. Asian and Hispanic communities from the United States — and a delegation of eight U.S. beauty queens. Faces of Israel says it’s covering half of the 8-million-shekel project, and the Foreign Ministry is covering the other half.

What else? The ministry spent 41,000 shekels on mezuzahs for its embassies and 10,700 shekels for crystal candlesticks, as a fare-thee-well gift for employees – no, not ones leaving the service, ones leaving Israel to serve the ministry abroad. Now there’s money well spent!

Art to soothe the savage breast?

Now, artworks the ministry paid for – that is, the Israeli taxpayer paid for - aren’t exactly Sunflowers by van Gogh or the Card Players by Cezanne, but the sums are still pretty eye-popping. It spent 71,000 shekels on art and 29,800 shekels on reproductions for the embassy in India. It also spent 51,000 shekels on buying sarcophagi from the Antiquities Authority. Useful item, that.

The Foreign Ministry bought string to tie mail bags for 41,500 shekels, and spent 19,500 on red ribbons.

The ministry admits to spending heavily on moving things in 2014, within Israel and sometimes to embassies overseas. One company alone got 2 million shekels. Where? Why? We do not know.

More usefully, the ministry funded food-safety courses to the tune of 180,000 shekels and a course on boosting milk production in sheep that cost 174,000 shekels. Why did it do that? We do not know. The ministry gave 8,500 shekels to the Israel Dairy Board, but provided no details what the money was for and TheMarker for one cannot imagine.

Don’t smoke any more? Now smile!

Then there are psychological services and treatments provided for ministry employees. “Unique psychological” counseling services by one psychologist set it back 42,000 shekels in 2014. Another psychologist collected 9,981 shekels; one employee was treated to a seminar to stop smoking at a cost of 5,500 shekels.

Another treatment, costing 5,500 shekels, seems to be for teeth whitening by a dentist.

The Ministry paid a number of other outside consultants sums in the hundreds of thousands of shekels, but did not provide any information on what was involved beyond the payments. One journalist and blogger, Linda Menuhin, was paid 849,000 shekels for public-relations advice in 2014. An adviser to the tenders committee, Moshe Rahman, was paid 355,000 shekels.

There was also an item entitled refunding expenses to a person named Eli Moses, for the sum of 422,000 shekels - but no details who what where - were provided.

The ministry gives gifts to employees at all the usual holidays. Unusually, it also lavished packages of chocolate that cost it a sweet 27,900 shekels for Purim.

The ministry also contracted with the Circus in Israel to perform for 34,600 shekels, and gave the Train Theater in Jerusalem 59,400 shekels, without providing any details of the services provided. The ministry also contracted with the Israel Chamber orchestra to the tune of 210,000 shekels for a performance. The ministry bought Hagadot for Passover for employees for 39,100 shekels and birthday presents for employees for 32,800. And the list goes on. And on and on. But you get the point.