In mid-February, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem will start proceedings for the dismissal of three Israeli diplomats. The three were immediately summoned home after posting sharply critical remarks about the prime minister’s policies on their private Twitter accounts. Barring last-minute surprises, this will be the first time that members of the diplomatic staff will lose their jobs due to irregular activity on social media.

The most senior among the three was Yigal Caspi, Israel’s ambassador to Switzerland, who on Jan. 21 retweeted acerbic criticism by Israel Radio presenter Esti Perez against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his impending speech to Congress: “Frightening us here in Hebrew is no longer enough? Does one have to fly all the way to the US and Congress and talk there in English about the dangers of the Iranian nuclear program?”

Caspi was particularly active on Twitter that day, also retweeting Israeli daily Haaretz correspondent Barak Ravid in English: “Every time one thinks Netanyahu has taken the relationship with the White House to the lowest point ever, he manages to take it even lower.” Caspi then retweeted Ravid in Hebrew, as well: “Israeli government strategy over the past six years for dealing with diplomatic challenges is boycotts, fortifications and victimhood. No initiative, no creativity and no diplomacy.”

The tweets clearly reflect Caspi’s difficulty in coping with Netanyahu’s foreign policy — which he is obliged to defend as part of his job, and his apparent inability to mask his frustration, which he expresses through Twitter.