The Constitution Committee on Monday approved without reservations Foreign Minister Eli Cohen's law, which stipulates that ambassadors, diplomats and consuls in the Foreign Service of the State of Israel will be required to make an explicit declaration to preserve the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, as a condition for their appointments.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen meets with New York City Mayor Eric Adams (archive)
The background to the bill is to prevent the appointment of ambassadors such as Rinawi Zoabi, who did not recognize the State of Israel as Jewish and democratic. Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said: "The role of the state's emissaries and representatives is to represent the State of Israel and its values and act in its interests. The State of Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, and anyone who does not recognize this will not be able to serve as an ambassador and represent the State of Israel."
According to the law, a person appointed to the position of head of diplomatic or consular missions abroad must, before being given a letter of appointment, declare, in addition to the current declaration, an additional declaration, along the lines of "I am committed to maintaining allegiance to the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state."
"Did not recognize the Jewish state", Rida Rinawi Zoabi, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
This is in addition to the declaration that a civil servant must declare today before being given a letter of appointment (according to section 34A of the Civil Service (Appointments) Law, 1959), in the following wording: "I undertake to remain loyal to the State of Israel and its laws and to fulfill honestly and faithfully every duty imposed on me as a civil servant."
The purpose of the amendment is to prevent the possibility of appointments such as the appointment of former Knesset member Rinawi Zoabi (Meretz), who was appointed by Yair Lapid as consulate in Shanghai, despite the fact that she caused a storm following her statements against the State of Israel. According to the rationale of the law, the ability of anyone who does not recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state to represent the state and defend its good name in the world is questionable.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen (archive), photo: Ohad Zweigenberg
According to the explanatory notes of the law, "the head of a diplomatic or consular mission is the official and senior representative of the sovereign in the foreign state, who represents, by virtue of his position, the positions of the state and the government abroad and on its behalf, and in view of the importance of representativeness and statehood required by the head of mission, who is responsible for political, security, economic, informational, cultural and scientific relations vis-à-vis the most senior officials in the state of office and by virtue of his position, Therefore, in light of his responsibility and duty to faithfully express government policy, both foreign relations and domestic policy, and his role is to represent Israeli policies," therefore, the declaration to be made before the foreign minister or a civil servant authorized to do so by regulations was added.
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