MK (Shas) Yitzchak Vaknin feels the Foreign Ministry should pay for his $700 domestic flight that will never actualize since his official trip the USA has been canceled.
Vaknin, a deputy speaker of the Knesset, was selected as one of the MKs to be part of a team of legislators being flown to the USA where they were supposed to meet with an Egyptian delegation, including members of the Islamic Brotherhood. The meeting was being arranged between Israel’s Foreign Ministry and America’s State Department. The meeting was to remain under the radar, out of the media, but it was leaked to the press and the Egyptian delegation backed out.
Vaknin decided to take advantage of the planned trip to attend a family simcha in the United States, purchasing a $700 domestic flight that was non-refundable. When the mission was canceled he found himself with a ticket and a hole in his wallet. He turned to the officials in the Foreign Ministry who asked him to join the mission, and they informed him there was absolutely no chance of being reimbursed for the ticket.
Vaknin, who chairs the Knesset Ethics Committee, then asked that they send him to the USA anyway to permit him to use the ticket, receiving the same response – no chance.
Vaknin aides explain that there must have been a misunderstanding and while he suffered a significant financial blow, he would never expect to be flown to the United States under the circumstances mentioned.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Since when does a $700 non-refundable ticket purchased to attend a family simcha create a “significant financial blow” for an MK. Thats the cost of one day at Disneyland for the family. The fact that he chairs the “ethics committee” seems to be an oxymoron for an Israeli politican.
This is the risk one takes when booking non-refundable tickets. It’s unfortunate that he’s out of pocket through no fault of his own, but now he knows why some people pay extra for refundable tickets, or for insurance.
PS it would be perfectly reasonable for him to inquire whether there might not be some other mission he could go on that would put him in the same place at the same time. I assume this is what he did, and when he was told there wasn’t he accepted the answer. And then some flunky in the Department of Foreign Affairs told the press that he’d demanded to be flown on a private trip at public expense.