Attorney General Aharon Barak has ruled that an employe of the Foreign Ministry was within her rights in placing a Peace New sticker on her car. In a letter to Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, Barak noted that while Ministry rules forbade employes from criticizing government policy in “a press interview, public speech, broadcast, newspaper or book” there was nothing in the regulations that banned bumper stickers with a political message.
The employe in question was reprimanded last week by Foreign Ministry Director General Ephraim Evron for the Peace Now sticker seen on the car in the Ministry’s parking lot. The Peace Now movement has been denounced by the government for urging modification of Israel’s territorial policies in the interests of peace. Bark observed in his letter that the sticker was not derogatory and therefore did not violate discipline. But he added that the Foreign Ministry could, in the future, issue regulations barring political messages on employes’ cars.
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