Kesher im HaTzeebur

Kesher im HaTzeebur is an expense account that Members of Knesset have in the annual budget - as it means, for the purpose of staying in touch with the public. In the past, the Knesset has publicized yearly how much the different MKs used of their budget and what they used it for. It raised an annual outcry when people saw that the MKs were wasting tons of money on ridiculous items that seem to have no connection to maintaining contact with the public.

As a result, the Knesset changed the process and permission is required for purchases. I guess that is why in this years report nothing crazy stands out.

The onyl thing noteworthy is the top and bottom spender.

The top spender for this expense account is a Yisrael Beiteinu MK named Lia Shemtov who spent over 95,000 NIS. That is well over her budget, of about 69,000 NIS, but they claim that she carried over part of last years budget (which should not be allowed in my opinion) that had not been spent.

Another standout is the bottom of the list - Minister Benny Begin spent 0 NIS. That's right - he spent nothing of this expense account. I don't even know how that is possible. He has expenses and needs and unless he is simply not interested in staying in touch with the public, I don't know how else he is doing it. I guess it is possible that since he is a Minister without Portfolio, perhaps his actual office budget is way beyond what he actually needs and then he just buys his "kesher im hatzeebur" stuff through his office instead of using the expense account. Benny begin is considered one of the most honest and trustworthy people in Knesset, so I trust he is doing whatever it is through proper means. It just seems strange.