MKs fined over poor Knesset attendance
Ten out of 120 MKs skipped required meetings, seven provided 'reasonable excuses'. Minster Katz, MK Mofaz given warning, one-day-salary cut imposed on MK Barakeh.
The Knesset Ethics Committee on Wednesday issued a warning notice to Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and deducted a day's salary from MK Mohammad Barakeh as part of the sanctions imposed in the wake of a roll call determining which Knesset Members were present in meetings during the Knesset's summer session.
According to the Law of Immunity of MKs, a Knesset Member is subject to the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee if he is absent from a certain number of meetings, while a minister is permitted to be absent from a larger number of meetings.
The attendance examination revealed that 10 out of the 120 Knesset Members missed the set number of mandatory meetings.
Those who were absent include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (both absent from several meetings due to Operation Protective Edge), Minister Uri Orbach and MK Binyamin Fuad Ben-Eliezer (absent due to health reasons), Deputy Minister Tzipi Hotovely (gave birth in March) and MKs Hanin Zoabi and Afu Agbaria (absent during Eid al-Fitr) provided "reasonable excuses" and as a result were not hti with sanctions.
Ya'alon missed 24 meetings (7 more than the set limit), and the committee noted that this is not the first time he has exceeded the limit of absences.
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, in contrast, was only given a warning. Katz missed 20 meetings, three meetings more than the permitted absences. The Likud Minister apologized for the absences in a letter to the committee, writing that he was missing for five days due to a two-day work visit abroad and professional tours in Israel. The committee determined that he did not provide a reasonable justification for his absence.
MK Mohammad Barakeh missed 16 meetings, five more than the permitted number of absences. Barakeh also explained his absence in a letter to the committee, saying that he had to spend two days with his sons in court after they were arrested during a protest, along with Barakeh himself and his advisor.
The Ethics committee did not accept the explanation, and due to the fact that it was the second time during the current Knesset term in which he exceeded the maximum absence limit, decided to deduct one day's pay for his absence.
Kadima MK Shaul Mofaz was absent from 13 meetings, two over the maximum allowable absences. His explanation for his absence was that he had been working outside the Knesset during the days when searches were conducted for the three abducted Israeli teens and Operation Protective Edge was ongoing.
Similar to Katz, this was the first time during his Knesset term in which he exceeded the set number of absences, and as a result was also given only a warning.
