Tel Aviv – Asharq Al-Awsat

Officials of the Israeli Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Security announced their work has been disrupted leading to freezing arms trade and closing the crossings between Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The workers' committees at the two ministries said in a statement on Monday that these procedures will start as of Tuesday, under which all Israeli embassies and consulates in the world will be closed. In addition, diplomats will refrain from carrying on their duties and all crossings with Palestine will be closed.

Earlier, the Israeli Ministry of Finance announced a new financial system applicable to reduce the wages of hundreds of appointees, envoys and ambassadors.

The Ministry also instructed office-holders to act retroactively and stop paying fees that were owed between January-September 2019, unless backed by official invoices detailing the expenses.

Over the past 30 years, all foreign ministry employees working abroad were repaid for expenses during their meetings with delegates from countries, said a representative of the Foreign Staff Committee.

Committees of staff from both ministries issued a statement announcing that the new system contradicts agreements with them and that the Ministry of Finance is working unilaterally and imposing regulations not agreed upon.

Staff members have rejected the new system which they believe doesn’t reflect the work of delegations outside the country and constitutes a violation of the necessary working rules for the delegates and conditions of employment.

The two committees threatened that they would work under the leadership of Histadrut, or the General Organization of Workers in Israel, and take all judicial and organizational measures necessary for their rights.