Israel shuts down public diplomacy ministry, budget heads to South

The government agreed to shut down the Public Diplomacy Ministry in a telephone survey on Sunday after former minister Galit Distal-Atbaryan resigned on October 12.

The ministry's budget, which stood at NIS 23.8 million will now be used for a fund to help rehabilitate the towns near the Gaza border that were hit by Hamas's massive October 7 attack.

The Public Diplomacy Ministry was opened at the beginning of this year for the first time since 1975 and was in charge of hasbara (explaining) in Israel and abroad.

An unneeded resource

However, when Distal-Atbaryan resigned, she said it was because her ministry was redundant as the Diaspora Affairs Ministry was made responsible for Israel's hasbara alongside the Foreign Ministry.

She added that her budget was wasted on a ministry whose duties were already being carried out by one with far more resources and had urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to instead use her budget to help Israeli residents in the South.

The Public Diplomacy Ministry had been one of 31 ministries that make up the current government compared to 28 ministries in the last government.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG) welcomed the closure of what it called an unnecessary ministry.

"The Public Diplomacy Ministry is only the tip of the iceberg of government ministries with high budgets and no substance that were opened hastily and carelessly as part of coalition negotiations," said the movement. "MQG called on the government ministers to enlist for the good of the public, immediately cancel the unnecessary ministries, and reroute their budgets to the war effort and the rehabilitation of the residents near Gaza and the northern border."