Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for December 31, 2022
Newsline: Israel’s ambassador to France resigns
A group of more than 100 Israeli diplomats have written to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing concern about his new government’s proposed policies, while Israel’s ambassador to France resigned in a similar act of protest. The group letter expressed “profound concern at the serious damage to Israel’s foreign relations, its international standing and its core interests abroad” if Netanyahu’s plans proceed as expected. Signatories included Nimrod Barkan, who served as ambassador to Canada under the last Netanyahu-led government; Jeremy Issacharoff, Israel’s ambassador to Germany; Pini Avivi, former ambassador to Turkey; Colette Avital, a former Labor politician and veteran diplomat; and Avi Gil, former director general of ministry of foreign affairs. The group warned that “expected changes in Israeli policy in Judea-Samaria/the West Bank” along with “extreme and discriminatory laws” targeting minorities in Israel and other policies would not only harm the country’s democratic values but could also harm relations with the U.S., disrupt the Abraham Accords and even hurt investment in Israel. (https://forward.com/fast-forward/530215/israel-ambassador-france-yael-german-resigns-netanyahu-government/) Yael German, the ambassador to France, wrote in her letter: “The statements of the ministers in your government and the intentions of their legislation go against my conscience, my worldview, and the underlying promises of the declaration of independence of a Jewish and democratic state.” The letter, which she posted to Twitter on Thursday, was written in Hebrew and translated by the Forward.
Newsline: Former Libyan embassy official in Czech Republic arrested for corruption
The Public Prosecutor has ordered the former Chargé d’Affairs of the Libyan mission to the Czech Republic to be placed in custody pending investigation. (https://libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/former-official-libyan-embassy-czech-arrested-corruption) The former official at the Libyan Embassy in the Czech Republic is facing charges of misusing the powers of his position to gain illegal benefits. A statement by the Attorney General said the former diplomat spent hundreds of thousands of foreign exchange in violation of the rules and regulations for managing public money, which caused significant damage to public funds.
Newsline: UAE extends visa ban on Pakistan
In what comes as another embarrassment for Pakistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), where a large number of Pakistanis migrate for work opportunities, has now extended an existing travel ban to 24 cities of Pakistan. The visa ban was earlier on 22 cities, and it has now been increased to 24, East Coast Daily reported. The UAE government had to resort to this action in order to curb the menace of begging on the streets of UAE. (https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/uae-extends-visa-ban-on-pakistan-embarrassed-pakistan-says-no-visa-ban-in-place/) It was noted that a large number of migrants from these Pakistani cities, who visit the UAE for work, ultimately end up begging on the streets when they fail to find employment. This increases the workload of the UAE administration, as begging is a crime in Dubai and the people are strictly ordered to not entertain beggars. Most of the migrant workers from Pakistan are deceived by agents who send them to UAE on a visit visa, while telling them that they were being sent on a work visa.
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