Levin, against move
צילום: ירון ברנר
Committee slams MKs' flight upgrade
Chairman of Knesset's Public Committee says he recommended MKs travel business class on flights over six hours, but economy class on shorter flights
Hours after it was revealed that Knesset has decided to upgrade its members to business class tickets on all flights abroad on state-related affairs, it turns out that the Knesset's public committee has only recommended MKs' plane tickets be upgraded to business class on flights that exceed six hours.
Knesset Director-General Dan Landau apparently disregarded the recommendation and ruled that MKs would be upgraded on short flights as well.
On Monday, Chairman of the Knesset Public Committee Prof. Reuven Grunau appeared before a committee discussing an unrelated issue, but also commented on this matter. Leaving the session, he said that it recently became clear that there is no clear protocol on MKs' travels.
"Regarding longer flights, MKs travel in business class, for shorter distances, some of them use business class and some use economy class."
He said that the committee proposed a protocol to put this matter in order. He said the protocol that was proposed was, "the adoption of criteria that determine that there is a similarity between MKs and director-generals in matters of salary and benefits. Namely – the service regulations clearly state that director-generals fly business class on flights over six hours, and fly economy class on flights less than six hours. We recommended the Knesset House Committee adopt this protocol. This was three weeks ago."
He said, "The Knesset speaker accepted our recommendation and asked for time to consider it and consult. I was very surprised to hear that the Knesset director-general, whether aware of our recommendation or not, decided to employ the business class flights for all MKs when they travel. We gave a different recommendation."
He said, "If the director-general can travel to London in economy class, we thought that maybe the MKs could as well."
It should be noted that MK Yariv Levin (Likud) also spoke out against the move: "It is a pity that the committee had to hear about it in the media, an appropriate and fitting debate should be held over such a matter."
MK Levin said that when Prof. Grunau's recommendation was received, it was transferred to the Knesset speaker before being put before the committee for discussion.
Earlier, MK Ilan Ghilon (Meretz) said he objects to the decision and called it a "wasteful privilege".
"We were rightfully elected," he said, "but this does not mean we have to right to be above the people. This is a completely unnecessary decision."
