Lapid said to hire private travel firm for upcoming overseas visits
News site says Amsalem Tours will manage premier’s trips to Berlin and the UN amid wage dispute between Foreign Ministry and government
Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s two upcoming overseas state visits will be coordinated by a private company for the first time in Israel’s history, according to report Wednesday.
Lapid’s slated visits next month to Berlin and to New York, where he will deliver a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, will be organized by Amsalem Tours, the Ynet news site said.
Responsibility for organizing the prime minister’s overseas engagements lies with the Foreign Ministry. However, due to an ongoing wage dispute between Foreign Ministry employees and the government that has included threats of a strike, the Prime Minister’s Office has sought an alternative option.
Amsalem Tours, which focuses on business travel, is headquartered in the northern city of Tiberias but operates branches throughout the country as well as an overseas subsidiary.
The company has reportedly been tasked with providing hotels and cars for the premier and his team, as well as organizing the various events that Lapid — who is also foreign minister — is scheduled to attend.
An unnamed government source told Ynet that Lapid has “cut himself off from the Foreign Ministry and its employees.”
“In practice, he has cut off total contact with the ministry, and all of the preparations for the visits have fallen on the National Security Council, which now has to deal with political issues that go beyond its role,” the official said.
The workers union representing Foreign Ministry employees criticized the move, accusing Lapid of hiring “diplomatic contract workers” in an effort to circumvent negotiations.
“All this [comes] at a sensitive time that requires diplomatic activities in world capitals to enlist support for Israeli policies regarding Iran,” it said.
The union called on the government to avoid the “waste of public resources and sit with the Foreign Ministry workers to solve the crisis.”
An unnamed government source cited in the report said, “The prime minister’s visits to Berlin and the UN are of the highest importance for Israel’s national security, and they will go ahead as planned.”
Last week, union officials had threatened to disrupt Lapid’s visit to Germany and the US over the protracted wage dispute.
Some consular services have even run out of passports after ministry workers refused to send refills to overseas representatives due to the dispute.
