Mazuz urged to launch probe against Netanyahu
Kadima MK Hasson to ask attorney general to look into Channel 10 report that opposition leader and his wife spent NIS 131,000 during PR trip to London
In the letter, Hasson claims that the report "raises heavy suspicions that Netanyahu committed offenses related to at least two trips abroad with his wife, one during his tenure as finance minister and the other as the opposition chairman."
Hasson criticizes Netanyahu, writing that "the Jewish history is well aware of the trips of Benjamin of Tudela, which were also portrayed in the book 'The Travels of Benjamin,' but it seems like MK Netanyahu has very much improved the renowned Jewish researcher's urge to travel, and 'the travels of Benjamin of Rehavia' are characterized by pleasures and unperceived and unacceptable expenditures, all hovered by the question who exactly is paying for them."
Hasson goes on to detail the television report, saying that "the gift law which Mr. Netanyahu is well aware of from a previous affair, prohibits a public servant from receiving gifts in the form of expense payments or other benefits from private elements.
"The reports raise the heavy suspicion that Mr. Netanyahu has not learned the lesson from that gloomy affair in his past, and has failed in both incidents. The fact that unknown elements, with unclear interests, have paid for his and his wife's expenses is particularly severe.
"The public has the right to know exactly how Mr. Netanyahu spent his time during the Second Lebanon War and who is financing the pleasure trips of 'Benjamin of Rehavia.'"
'State of Israel did not pay one cent'
According to the Channel 10 inquiry, MK Netnayhu and his wife spent about NIS 131,000 in six and a half days in August 2006. The majority of the sum was paid by a Jewish organization headed by a British Jewish millionaire, in an alleged violation of the Knesset members' ethics rules.
The opposition leader's lawyer said in response to the report that "the personal expenses of Mr. Netanyahu and his wife were paid from his own pocket. The State of Israel did not pay one cent for the intensive PR activity, and the expenses were covered by the Bonds and the Jewish community he was invited by.
According to the attorney, the Channel 10 report on some of the expenses was "exaggerated, false and manipulative, and "another part of the expenses has to do with meetings Mr. Netanyahu held with officials and journalists involved in visit."
