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The Flying Government, and How Much It Cost Us: The Costs of Prime Minister and Ministerial Flight Exposed - Walla! News

2022-01-24T12:15:15.538Z


In the 7 months of its existence, members of the Bennett-Lapid government have made 53 official trips, according to the ministerial responses submitted to the Knesset at the request of MK Yariv Levin. Some of the answers are vague and missing, We paid for it.


The flying government, and how much it cost us: The costs of flights by Prime Minister and ministers are exposed

In the 7 months of its existence, members of the Bennett-Lapid government have made 53 official trips, according to the ministerial responses submitted to the Knesset at the request of MK Yariv Levin. Some of the answers are vague and missing, We paid for it.

His dew

24/01/2022

Monday, 24 January 2022, 14:00 Updated: 14:05

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The change government boasts of improving Israel's foreign relations in the international arena as one of its key achievements, and the opposition, on the other hand, likes to attack and frequently criticize the amount of flights and travel of the "flying government", especially in the days of Corona.



From the Walla!

It shows that in the seven months of its existence, the change government ministers have made 47 flights and trips - not including the prime minister, who has flown for six official policy trips since taking office.

The total cost of the flights was at least NIS 16-10 million, according to reports by government members of the Knesset, as part of a response to a query submitted by the chairman of the Likud faction, MK Yariv Levin.

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Submit the same query to each member of the government.

Levin (Photo: Reuven Castro)

At the end of October, Levin sent 28 direct inquiries to the Prime Minister and each of the ministers, in the same wording, which included three questions:

  • 1. What trips have you made abroad since you took the job?

  • 2. What was the total cost to the office of each trip, including entourage expenses?

  • 3. What professional meetings are available during the trip?

The answers that the ministers conveyed to Levin are not uniform and vary in the level of transparency of the costs and content of travel, but from processing the data in which it is possible to draw the globe map of the Bennett-Lapid government in the first half of its existence, and how much it cost us.

Costs of flights of prime ministers and ministers (Photo: image processing, shutterstock)

It should be emphasized that the data are based on the reports of the ministers themselves and not on the data of the Accountants General in the Government Ministries, which also include offsets and inter-ministerial payments;

Some responded to the query without detailing the travel costs, and some forwarded missing reports, such as omitting the security costs or ignoring trips that occurred after the date of receipt of the query.

The calculation of the total costs is only an estimate, which is also based on completeness and estimates from conversations with government officials.

At the same time, the summary of answers produces provides a rare database regarding government spending on flights and travel in the first half year of its existence.

The Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defense

Foreign and Defense Policy Leaders - Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Bnei Gantz lead the flight list, with travel to strategic destinations whose existence is difficult to question, and their flights make up the bulk of government spending on flights. The prime minister is accompanied by an entourage of between 40-20 people and a complex security envelope that jumps the cost price, and both the foreign minister and the defense minister move around with a circle of advisers and security guards on a significantly larger scale than other government ministers. It should be noted, however, that a considerable part of the prime minister's flight costs would have been saved if the government had decided to use the "Wing of Zion" plane, which is standing at Ben Gurion Airport waiting for the heads of state to travel. Of the Netanyahu regime, and imposes a veto on him



.

There have been six official state visits since taking office in June last year: he flew to the United States twice, to a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House and to the UN General Assembly in New York, and in between, in August, he visited Sharm el-Sheikh As a guest of Egyptian President al-Sisi.

In October he flew to Sochi, Russia, for a meeting with President Putin, and at the end of that month Bennett traveled to the UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Last month he hosted the first official visit of an Israeli prime minister to the UAE. Levin that she only refers to visits "that can be detailed in this framework," and in fact implies that Bennett has made additional secret trips during this period.

Prime Minister's flights (Photo: image processing, shutterstock)

Bennett's bureau provided Levin with only partial data, and their answer refers only to the cost of flights, and does not include the costs of hotels, entourage and security.

At the same time, the lease costs of the aircraft were specified in full transparency, which makes it possible to estimate some of the possible savings if the national aircraft had come into use.



According to the report, the total cost of the planes for the prime minister's six visible trips reached NIS 5,740,017, without the expenses of the entourage, hotels and security being calculated, which adds another 30-20% to the total costs.

For comparison, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in 2017 there are 14 official trips and 16 flights in 2018.

A request for freedom of information submitted that year indicates that the total cost of travel was about NIS 48 million, and the cost of flights was about NIS 37 million - about 77% of the total costs.

Top the flight list.

Bennett, Lapid and Gantz (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Reports by

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Bnei Gantz

were less detailed and much more vague. The Foreign Minister's office responded to Levin's query that he had eight "important policy trips", without specifying which countries, and a female in a general and unspecified amount of the costs - three million shekels (about half of the Foreign Ministry's annual budget for the minister's travel). In line with his role, Foreign Minister Lapid is the prime minister of travel, and has since taken office visiting the United States, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, the European Union in Brussels, Italy, Paris and London. Since the submission of the query, Lapid has had another one-day trip to Egypt in December, where he met with President al-Sisi.



Defense Minister Bnei Gantz only passed on a list of trips that existed in the previous and current government, without addressing the question of costs at all. Ganz reported on five trips he has made as defense minister in the current government: to France, Singapore, Morocco, the United States and Jordan.

Those who refuse, evade and deprive: the ministers' travels

Most government ministers responded to Levin with one degree or another of transparency, some on time - and some only after a long time and following Walla !. Some reported security expenses, and some chose to respond in general and with missing information. Three ministers flatly refused to pass on the cost details: Ganz, Minister Eli Avidar and Communications Minister Yoaz Handel.



Prime Minister Avidar's minister

replied to Levin's query that he had one trip to the UAE in October, and referring to the cost question he said that "the Freedom of Information Department in the Prime Minister's Office should be contacted as usual." Avidar also refused to list the government officials he met with. Needless to say, it is not and has not been the practice of referring MKs to the Freedom of Information Department, and this is a practice commonly used to dismiss journalists' queries. The direct query in the Knesset, however, is one of the most effective tools of parliamentary oversight: Required within 21 days, unless there are considerations of state security.

Flatly refused to pass on the cost breakdown.

Avidar (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Since Avidar's visit to the Emirates was attended by two other government ministers -

Minister of Religions Matan Kahana and Minister of Regional Cooperation Issawi Frij

- who provided the full information, it is possible to estimate in general the cost of the trip he refused to report.

It was a conference marking a year to the Abrahamic Accords, funded by the Atlantic Research Institute, which lasted about four days.

Government ministries bore only the costs of consultants' flights and security expenses: Kahana reported NIS 112,000 (100,000 of them security, and Fridge reported NIS 178,000 (150,000 of them security). Thus, the estimated cost of Avidar's trip was at least 110 thousand shekels. this was the only flight Perrigo and Kahane made since the establishment of the government. since the submission of the query and the answer came out Avidar second trip to Honduras in November.



Minister of communications Handel

He went on only one professional trip, in October, for a week in the United States - a trip that dealt with strengthening cooperation in the field of communications and cyber, according to the answer he sent to the query.

Handel did not answer the question of costs and only wrote to Levin that "as long as you are interested in more details I would be happy to meet you with the relevant professional bodies in the Ministry of Communications."

Talks with officials in the Ministry of Communications indicate that the cost of the trip is estimated at NIS 250,000.

The peak of flights after Bennett, Lapid and Gantz.

Rezbozov (Photo: Government Press Office, Mark Israel Slam)

The peak of government flights after the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Defense

Minister are Tourism Minister Yoel Rezbozov and Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai

, according to their positions. Rezbozov has made five trips since taking office - to Paris, Moscow, the Emirates, Kazakhstan and London, and reported a total cost of NIS 238,000, not including security expenses, which significantly increase the cost of each and every trip. Diaspora Minister Shai replied that there were three official trips - to Miami, Romania and Sweden, and Austria. He only reported the cost of the trip to Miami, about 100,000 shekels, and did not pass data on the cost of travel to European countries. After submitting the answer, there is already another trip to the United States. Four trips in total, at an estimated cost of at least NIS 350,000.



Most government ministers have flown two or three times since the formation of the government.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked

She visited the UAE in October and was on an eight-day visit to the United States in November, but in her response to Levin's query she only reported the cost of the trip to the UAE.

Shaked's reply was sent only this week, almost two months after it was required, but it did not include the trip to the United States, on the grounds that it took place after the October submission of the query. NIS 1,000, and the estimated cost of a minister's visit to the United States is at least NIS 150,000.

The ministers who did not travel as part of the job

  • Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman

  • Justice Minister Gideon Saar

  • Education Minister Yifat Shasha Bitton

  • Economy Minister Orna Barbibai

  • Minister of Internal Security Amar Bar-Lev

  • Minister of Finance Hemed Amar

  • Minister of Social Equality Merav Cohen

Energy Minister Karin Elharar arrived

early to respond to Levin's query immediately at the end of October, and reported only one trip, to Paris, at a cost of 88,000 shekels.

Elharar also joined the Prime Minister's entourage at the climate conference in Glasgow in early November, which took place after the deadline for submitting the query.

Energy Minister Tamar Zandberg

also accompanied the prime minister's flight to the climate conference, and reported costs of about NIS 40,000.

In October, Zandberg also went on a combined visit to the Emirates and Paris, at a cost of NIS 280,000, including security expenses.

It is worth noting that Zandberg and

Culture Minister Hili Trooper

provided the most detailed and transparent report of all travel expenses, including security.

Trooper himself has made two trips, to the Cannes Film Festival and the Tokyo Olympics, at a total cost of about NIS 233,000, including security.

Last month, after the query was filed, Trooper paid another visit to the Emirates.

Minister of Innovation and Science Orit Farkash

There have been two flights - to the Emirates and Paris to the OECD, and reported a total cost of 221 thousand shekels including security.

Health Minister Horowitz



had one trip to

Berlin costing 113,000 shekels, including security.

Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Temano Sheta

, visited Paris once and reported that the cost of the visit was NIS 59,000.

Temano Sheta also visited the United States last month, but that was after the date of sending the answer to the query.

Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern

reported that he once visited France, funded by the Allent organization, without accompanying consultants, and did not report security spending.

Housing Minister Zeev Elkin makes

two trips - one to Ukraine with the president and one to Russia with the prime minister, at no cost to the Ministry of Housing.

The flight to Ukraine cost about NIS 33 million for the flights and the stay of Elkin and his spokesmen, without security expenses.

The most transparent and detailed report, alongside Trooper.

Zandberg (Photo: Yoav Itiel)

Minister of Welfare Meir Cohen

traveled to Morocco once, together with an entourage and the Foreign Minister's plane, and he reported that the trip cost 11,000 shekels, not including security.

Transport Minister Merav Michaeli

, who was in the United States in August-September ahead of the birth of her son from a surrogate mother, reported to Levin that she had only one trip for personal reasons, and had one working day with meetings, at a total cost of NIS 13,000, including security.

Agriculture Minister Oded Forer

made a business trip to the United States last month, but it too was after he had already responded to Levin's query, so its costs were estimated.



Seven ministers have not traveled anywhere since the government was formed:

Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Justice Minister Gideon Saar, Education Minister Yifat Shasha Bitton, Economy Minister Orna Barbibai, Interior Minister Amar Bar-Lev, Finance Minister Hemed Amar and Social Equality Minister Merav Cohen

.



At the top of the popular destinations of prime ministers stands the United States, with a total of ten trips of the prime minister and eight of the prime ministers, followed by the United Arab Emirates and France with nine official visits each.

In total in the seven months of its existence the government has maintained a total of 53 flights.

For comparison, an examination by the State Comptroller in 2014 revealed that the government's annual average travel between the years 2009-2013 was 196 trips per year.

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Tags

  • Naftali Bennett

  • Bnei Gantz

  • Yair Lapid

  • Eli Avidar

  • Joaz Handel

  • Joel Rezbozov

  • Tamar Zandberg

  • Trooper Corps

Source: walla

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