It is almost an Israeli tradition that a candidate nominated by the Prime Minister, whichever Prime Minister, for an ambassadorship, will be vetoed by the Foreign Minister, and vice versa. Normally, in Britain say, these proposed appointments would not become public knowledge until final confirmation and whatever the internal argy bargy it would not emerge to embarrass the candidates. But not in Israel where it has long been said with truth that this vessel of state leaks from the top. Every politician has his favourite journalist and you will have to take my word for it that it is not unusual for ministers, fresh out of a cabinet meeting, to phone a media friend and brief him on what ministers had discussed, even including matters of a supposed ?confidential? nature. It does little for Israel's international standing when her Foreign Minister, told of his Prime Minister's choice for the London embassy, proclaims to all and sundry: ?Over my dead body.?
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