Knesset probes FM Cohen handing out diplomatic passports to Likud bigwigs

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Then-Foreign Minister Eli Cohen addresses the press at United Nations Headquarters, accompanied by family members of individuals kidnapped by Hamas, on October 24, 2023 in New York City. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images/AFP)
Then-Foreign Minister Eli Cohen addresses the press at United Nations Headquarters, accompanied by family members of individuals kidnapped by Hamas, on October 24, 2023 in New York City. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images/AFP)

Members of the Knesset State Control Committee demand answers from representatives of the Foreign Ministry, following reports that Foreign Minister Eli Cohen ordered diplomatic passports to be issued to prominent members of his Likud party against the advice of counsel from professional staff in his office.

A panel of ministry professionals adjudicating Cohen’s requests for the diplomatic passports ruled against issuing them, but Foreign Ministry Director General Ronen Levy overruled the committee, informing members that he was doing so on specific instructions from Cohen, according to the Haaretz daily.

Committee chairman MK Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid) calls on officials to act with greater transparency in granting diplomatic passports to non-diplomatic personnel by releasing a list of criteria for granting diplomatic passports — stating that for the minister to override a decision of the ministry’s exceptions committee, which decides such matters, “doesn’t look good.”

Addressing lawmakers, Levy’s deputy Yossi Dayan, a former Likud activist, complains the ministry leadership has been subjected to a “media lynching” following the Haaretz report, and argues that the issuance of the disputed passports is within the minister’s authority and was conducted within the bounds of the law.

Raising the example of passport recipient Tamir Idan, Dayan says that the chairman of the Sdot Negev Regional Council is involved in a ministry agricultural project which is “very significant.”

Asked how many diplomatic passports are currently extant as a result of Cohen overriding the committee, Foreign Ministry representatives told lawmakers that there were fewer than 10.

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