Government Watchdog Demands Bennett Move from Ra’anana to Yerushalayim

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – The Movement for a Quality Government in Israel is demanding that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett move to the PM’s official residence in Yerushalayim, and halt the huge outlays for security at his private home in Ra’anana at taxpayers’ expense, The Times of Israel reported on Monday.

MQG filed a petition at the High Court of Justice calling on it to order Bennett to move to the official residence in the capital, as the law provides.

Security upgrades to enable Bennett to use his home as an unofficial residence have reportedly cost NIS 50 million ($15 million), plus monthly expenses, including nearly NIS 70,000 a month to rent nearby housing for support staff for the prime minister, according to media reports.

At the same time, six apartments around the official residence in the capital that are being rented for the same purpose are going empty, the group noted.

The movement said it has in the past asked the Prime Minister’s Office to provide it with a timetable of when Bennett will move to Yerushalayim, but has received no response.

When he first took office last June, Bennett explained that he wanted to stay on in Ra’anana for the sake of his children, so they could continue attending school in there, and be spared being uprooted to a new city.

More recently, he said that the Shin Bet security service needs time to make renovations to the Yerushalayim residence, which the Shin Bet confirmed.