Top Education Ministry official quits, cites ‘organizational climate’

A deputy director general of the Education Ministry resigned Thursday after three months on the job, saying she was unable to carry out her role due to the work environment in the ministry.

The resignation of Gali Nahari, who was responsible for recruitment, training, development and placement of education workers, follows that of the ministry’s previous director general Asaf Tzalel, who quit at the end of July.

In a letter to staff quoted by Hebrew media, Nahari wrote: “Unfortunately, I am experiencing a huge gap between the scale of the task placed upon my shoulders and the organizational climate that exists in the ministry today, which does not allow me to carry out this task.

“All my efforts to prevent this situation were to no avail. In light of this, I am forced to depart my post.”

In a statement, the ministry said it respects Nahari’s decision and “wishes her great success in the future.”

According to unsourced Hebrew media reports, Nahari was unhappy with interference in staff’s professional decisions from Education Minister Yoav Kisch’s office.

Haaretz cited ministry sources as saying Nahari left because figures in the office of acting director general Meir Shimoni, whom Kisch appointed to take over from Tzalel, had pressured her to approve appointments against her professional opinion.

In his own resignation, Tzalel cited societal divisions, saying, “The rift we’ve arrived at does not enable me to continue to carry out my responsibilities properly.” He did not specifically mention the government’s planned drastic overhaul of the judiciary which has been met by months of mass protests and seen Israeli society riven, politically and socially.