Netanyahu Residence Expenses at Seven-Year Low

While charges of lavish spending at the prime minister’s residence and official plane trips have periodically inflamed the Israeli media in recent years, a report that spending has gone down received relatively little notice on Sunday.

Expenses for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s official residence in Yerushalayim and his private home were the lowest in the past seven years, according to figures released by his office, The Times of Israel reported.

All expenses were approved by the relevant officials based on criteria established by the Knesset and the government attorney, the PMO said in a statement.

The PMO would not, however, release receipts for the expenses, saying it would have been too time-consuming to collate them and that it was under no legal requirement to do so.

The government spent NIS 1,844,000 ($474,000) in total for the official residence and Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea. That compares to almost NIS 2 million in 2014, and over NIS 2 million in previous years, as well as over NIS 3 million in 2012.