The Foreign Ministry recalled Israel's ambassador to El Salvador, Tzuriel Refael, after he was found in the back yard of his residence naked, drunk, bound and gagged, it emerged Monday.

Raphael has been removed from his post and the Foreign Ministry has begun searching for a replacement, ministry spokeswoman Zehavit Ben-Hillel said.

According to reports, San Salvador policemen who guard the ambassador's residence found Refael with his hands tied, a rubber ball gag in his mouth and wearing sex toys.

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Ben-Hillel said the reports were accurate and that Raphael has been recalled although he did not break any laws.

"We're talking about behavior that is unbecoming of a diplomat," she said.

The ambassador did not file any police complaint in connection with the incident, she said.

Raphael had served for six months as the ambassador in El Salvador and for several years at different missions around the world, Ben-Hillel said.

The embarrassing affair was one of several involving Israeli diplomats in recent years.

In 2000, Israel's ambassador to France died of cardiac arrest in a Paris hotel under circumstances the Foreign Ministry refused to publicize.

Media reports said he was with a woman who was not his wife at the time.

Last year, Israel replaced its ambassador to Australia, Naftali Tamir, after he told Haaretz that Israel and Australia are white sisters amid "the yellow race" of Asia.

In 2005, Israel canceled the appointment of a diplomat to Australia after it was discovered that he published pictures of nude Brazilian women on the Internet while on a mission in Brazil.