Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding National Unity chair Benny Gantz return 70,000 shekels ($19,000) for a trip to the United States and United Kingdom he took while he was a minister in the government.
The Prime Minister’s Office sent a letter to Gantz requesting that he return the money because Netanyahu did not approve his overseas visit. According to government regulations, the prime minister must authorize any trips taken by ministers outside of Israel.
“Former Minister Gantz did not receive permission for his trip to the USA, as required by the procedures. Before his flight, it was made clear to Gantz and his office that since it was a private trip, the Prime Minister’s Office would not bear the expenses. Now Gantz is asked to return the travel money to the state coffers,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Gantz announced in early July his National Unity Party’s departure from the government set up in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre and the ensuing Gaza war. He had served as a War Cabinet minister in the emergency unity government.
Gantz visited Washington and London in March.
“This is a political trip of the utmost importance that took place while Gantz served as a minister in the War Cabinet, during which he met with senior members of the American administration—including the vice president, the secretary of defense, the secretary of state and members of Congress as well as with the British prime minister and his foreign minister—all this to ensure that the most sensitive security interests are preserved,” Gantz’s office said in response.
“We suggest to the prime minister and his people to take action to return our abductees [from Gaza] and the residents of the north [near the Lebanese border] home, at least with the same determination and obsession as in the pursuit after the return of Gantz’s travel expenses.”
Before leaving the unity government, Gantz’s National Unity Party in late May submitted a bill to dissolve the Knesset in an attempt to topple Netanyahu’s coalition.
The ruling Likud Party slammed the move, saying in a statement that “in the midst of a war, Israel needs unity and not division.
“Dissolving the unity government would be a reward for [Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya] Sinwar, a capitulation to international pressure and a fatal blow to the efforts to free our hostages,” added the statement.
