The government is slated to vote on Sunday on the appointment of 35 ambassadors and consuls general whose posts had been suspended by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for over six months.
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The dealy prompted the Movement for Quality Government in Israel and the Foreign Ministry Workers' Union to petition the High Court of Justice, on the matter. The petition, filed in May, asked the court to order Netanyahu to explain why he had not approved the appointments, which left a third of Israel's diplomatic missions understaffed.
Over the past six months, Foreign Ministry employees have repeatedly contacted Netanyahu's office, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and then-Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, urging them to submit the nominations to the cabinet for approval, according to the petition.
While Gantz had supported approval, under previous coalition agreements between him and Netanyahu, both men were required to approve diplomatic appointments.
The terms of the deal remained in place even after their coalition collapsed last year, and were only overturned when the new government was sworn in on Sunday.
Due to the difficult political disputes between Netanyahu and Ganz, the previous government failed to name diplomats to key positions, such as the ambassadors to France, Canada and Australia, and the position of consul to New York was left unmanned as well.
It should be noted that even after the government approves the appointments, there are still international diplomatic norms to follow, meaning it could take weeks for the host countries to approve them.
After the High Court petition was filed, Foreign Ministry officials told Israel Hayom that the time had come to put an end to the chaos in the diplomatic service.
"The situation is unprecedented. Some embassies have not had a permanent ambassador for months. Other missions do not know whether a new ambassador will arrive in the summer or whether the current ambassador will be asked to continue in office. Dozens of diplomats, their children and spouses have been left hanging. People need to know where to rent apartments, enroll children in schools, etc. This is an unbearable situation," one senior ministry official said.
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New Foreign Minister Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu of leaving the diplomatic corps "in shambles" when he took office.
Lapid, who took over as foreign minister for Gabi Ashkenazi last week, vowed to restore the ministry's status, grossly eroded by year of neglect under Netanyahu's governments and said he seeks to end the neglect of the Diaspora Jewry, restore relations with the US Democratic Party, shore up Israel public diplomacy, and head the efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Arab states, following last year's Abraham Accords.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
