When President Shimon Peres recently flew to Lithuania and Latvia his staff leaded a private Arkia flight at the cost of 77,000 NIS. Officials in the President’s Residence when asked to explain stated that while Mr. Peres usually makes a point of taking regularly scheduled flights to save money, in this case the flights available did not meet his schedule.

Back in May 2013 when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife flew to Britain on motzei Independence Day for important meetings in that country, the media had a field day and made sure to admonish the nation’s leader for the exorbitant expenditure. They were critical of the expense for the added bedroom, despite explanations that the prime minister was running on very little sleep and required a few hours of undisturbed rest before high level state meetings.

Officials on Peres’ staff add that the president wanted a plane that could accommodate 50 people but in a cost-saving measure, he chartered a 12 seat passenger plane and the remainder of the staff flew on regularly scheduled flights. Arkia adds that due to the summer high season, the airline did not have a 50 passenger plane available.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)