Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is in trouble with the public for chartering a $300,000 plane ride to attend the funeral of the late British former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and then contracting to have a $127,000 bed built into it for the 5-hour flight, and charged to the taxpayers!
Here is a video report:
Netanyahu has been dogged for years by charges of corruption, and is known to be close to billionaires themselves dogged by legal questions.
Over 100,000 Israelis rallied on Saturday against the “austerity” measures (i.e. tax increases on those who can least afford it and reduction in social services) proposed by the Israeli equivalents of the US Tea Party.
According to a recent article in the Jerusalem Post,
the Finance Ministry previously investigated the deployment of an Israeli equivalent of “Air Force One” and a committee approved this as economical since savings would recoup costs in five years in comparison to to projected costs continuing to use private commercial flights for the PM.
Netanyahu was reluctant to accept these recommendations for the purchase of a PM plane due to adverse publicity over its estimated total cost.
The PM knew he would be criticized if he deployed an “Israeli Air Force One” due to its projected cost yet he also faces criticism by using costly private commercial planes.
The PM is in a lose-lose situation.
Bibi is a lose lose situation.
He would need to fly a lot less if he wasn’t spending all his time running the Israel Lobby worldwide and having to run around explaining to governments his regime’s latest outrages. Messy itineraries are part of the price of deliberately avoiding peace with his neighbors.
You sure the US taxpayer didn’t pick up the tab for his penthouse in the sky? A $127,000 bed sounds like a headline from The Onion.
@Mark Koroi
Alternatively, he could have had a far less expensive bed installed…..
Is this surprising?
I am sure Bibi sleeps rests very comfortably in his $127,000 bed while he has the Palestinians on a “diet”.
Doesn’t anyone in Israel see the problem here?