Netanyahu Refuses To Hand Over Invoices of Private Expenses

An Israeli citizens group has joined in the bruhaha over the Netanyahus’ private expenses, demanding full disclosure of invoices from the prime minister’s residence.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has refused to release the invoices despite a court order to comply with the a request submitted by the Movement for Freedom of Information.

Netanyahu explained that he is not handing over the invoices because “during the task of gathering the invoices, he realized that they included details about the prime minister and his family, which would harm them if handed over.”

The MFI alleged on Monday that the Netanyahus are concealing information that by law the public has a right to know, and that they are in defiance of a speficic ruling on the matter by the Judge Yigal Marzel of Yerushalayim District Court in January 2016.

Judge Marzel stated at the time: “The Prime Minister’s Office is unequivocally committed to hand to the Movement for Freedom of Information the information that it has requested, that is to say, copies of the original invoices (of the residence’s expenses) with exceptions according to the restrictions that the petitioner has agreed to.”

The prime minister was given 90 days to comply but has yet to do so. On April 20, Netanyahu said that he had asked State Attorney Avichai Mandelblit to delay handing over the information because of the privacy issue cited above.

Judge Marzel set June 15 for a hearing.

Meanwhile, the Likud issued a statement on Monday night accusing the MFI of targeting Netanyahu personally.

“The Movement for Freedom of Information needs to change its name to the ‘Movement for Freedom of Information regarding Netanyahu.’ It is obsessively hunting the PM, to the point that it is demanding receipts for bread and white cheese.”