Diplomat Fired for Leaking Sensitive Information
The Deputy Chief of Mission of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., Dan Arbell, was recently relieved of his duties by Foreign Ministry Director General Rafael Barak, after Arbell admitted he had leaked sensitive information to the press.
It is not known whether Arbell, who has been at the ministry for more than 20 years and has held several senior postings, will return to Israel or whether he will be reassigned within the ministry.
Senior Foreign Ministry officials said Arbell’s dismissal is the latest episode in a witch hunt that began two years ago and has escalated since Barak took over as director general, targeting anyone suspected of holding contacts with journalists. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Barak has endeavored to insulate the ministry from the media and to exclude many high-ranking figures in the ministry from official activities.
On Tuesday, Barak sent a memorandum to all ministry employees in Israel and abroad, titled “End of employment due to leak.” He explained his wish to brief the recipients about “a serious matter regarding unauthorized contacts with journalists, as a result of which I was forced to take a professional measure against a respected, senior, high-ranking employee and to remove him from his position.”
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
