Public diplomacy minister resigns over doubled authority

Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distal-Atbaryan resigned over the weekend from her role.

Distal-Atbaryan said the reason for her resignation was that she felt her ministry had become redundant and she couldn’t justify using up the budget.

“Earlier this week, the head of the Hasbara System decided to appoint the Diaspora Affairs Ministry to be responsible for the hasbara of the State of Israel in the international stage alongside the Foreign Ministry’s regular activity,” she said. “I respect that decision.”

Diaspora Affairs Ministry to absorb the role

She went on to say that the Diaspora Affairs Ministry had far more resources and a bigger budget than the Public Diplomacy Ministry for the task.

“The Public Diplomacy Ministry was assigned the task of strengthening national resilience,” she said. “However, there is already a very skilled minister responsible for national resilience. Honestly, I am not able to currently find any justification for this doubled authority.”

She ended her statement by urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to transfer her budget directly to help the Israeli residents of the South and thanking her team for their hard work.

Distal-Atbaryan, who had resigned her position as an MK under the Norwegian Law, will now return to the Knesset, pushing MK Avichay Buaron out.