Science Minister Ofir Akunis Jettisons Space

It’s not every day that a politician shortens the title of his office, but that is just what Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis did.

At the request of Akunis, the Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved the deletion of “Space” from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space. From now on, Akunis will be just plain Minister of Science and Technology, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Actually, this was the name of the ministry before Akunis’ predecessor Danny Danon added “Space” to the title during his three-month tour of duty there. Danon has since gone on to occupy a more prestigious orbit as Israeli ambassador to the U.N.

A ministry spokeswoman said the cost of making the change on signs and stationery would amount to “only a few thousands of shekels.”

Why the change?

The spokeswoman said that Akunis “checked and found that no other science and technology ministry in the world includes the word ‘space.”’

The change will not, however, affect the activities of the Israel Space Agency, which are expected to continue as usual.