US consulate in Israel ignores ruling of labor court, citing diplomatic immunity

06/25/12: Haaretz reports almost four years after an Israeli labor court ordered the US consulate to pay a former employee 114,000 Israeli shekels (approximately $29,000) the consulate is still refusing to pay up, citing diplomatic immunity.  The consulate insists that Israeli courts have no jurisdiction over its affairs, apart from cases handled through diplomatic channels.  “We do not consider ourselves a side in this affair,” the consulate wrote to Israel’s Foreign Ministry two years ago, in its only reference to the case.  The former employee, identified in records as BM, is a 50-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem.  He is currently employed by the United Nations in Jerusalem.  BM had been employed by the consulate for almost fifteen years before he was fired one day without any hearing or warning, he says.