Four of Labor's highest ranking officials, Chairman Shimon
Peres, Knesset Labor Chairwoman Dalia Itzik, Chaim Ramon and
Binyamin Ben Eliezer, received a severe reprimand from the
Knesset Ethics Committee.
The story begins four months ago when these four Laborites
were invited to a lavish wedding held by millionaire Aaron
Frankel of Monaco, a principality known to be only for the
rich.
Mr. Eliezer Waltman, director of Citizens for Fair Government
and Social and Legal Justice, filed a complaint to the Ethics
Committee, claiming that the host of the affair paid the
travel and lodging costs for the foursome. According to
Knesset regulations, MKs must receive advance approval from
the Knesset Ethics Committee for trips abroad except when
traveling as part of Knesset delegations.
Peres sent the Ethics Committee a letter saying he had been
asked to take part as one of the main speakers at an
important academic conference in Chicago and at the 80th
birthday party for former president George Bush Senior in
Houston, stopping in Monaco on the way home to honor Frankel,
who Peres referred to as "a personal friend and a dear Jew."
In another letter he revealed he had also been invited to a
bar mitzvah for the son of millionaire Daniel Amar in
Geneva.
Peres said the travel expenses to the conference and the Bush
birthday bash were covered by the sponsoring university,
while the travel expenses to the bar mitzvah came from his
own pocket. Regarding the trip to Monaco Peres remained
silent.
According to Yediot Achronot, Peres explained he took
part in the wedding because "Frankel has strong connections
in Moscow and he opens up doors in the Russian government in
an extraordinary manner." The article said another reason for
his attendance was to raise money for the Peres Peace
Center.
In response to the Ethics Committee's inquiry, Ben Eliezer
said he and Mr. Frankel had a longstanding friendship while
stressing, "Mr. Frankel and I have never engaged in business
dealings of any kind." Ben Eliezer failed to mention who paid
for the flight and accommodations. Therefore the Ethics
Committee extracted the information from the report in
Yediot Achronot, which said Frankel had sent Ben
Eliezer a plane ticket and put him up--along with all of the
other guests--at the Hotel de Paris, considered one of the
finest in Monte Carlo. Rooms there cost NIS 2,500-5,000 ($550-
$900) per night, with suites up to NIS 10,000 ($1,800).
Dalia Itzik was taken aback by the inquiry. After all, she
was just tagging along with Peres to Chicago, Houston and
Monaco, she explained. In fact the entire trip had been
organized by Peres' staff, from the flight arrangements to
the daily itinerary. "On our way home," Itzik related, "Mr.
Frankel put a plane at Mr. Peres' disposal to allow him to
come to the wedding. And since I was subject to the flight
arrangements and this trip, I joined Mr. Peres on our way
back to Israel." In other words she had absolutely nothing to
do with all these plans. Even her attendance at the wedding
was imposed upon her.
Chaim Ramon claimed that he had a ten-year friendship with
Frankel. "We meet on a regular basis several times a year and
talk on the phone frequently," said Ramon, who objected to
the committee's nosiness. "The very act of questioning
participation in a private affair of a personal friend as an
instance of receiving benefit is laughable and ridiculous,
and even a bit insulting. According to this same logic an MK
should be forbidden from accepting an invitation to dinner in
the home of any businessman." He, too, refrained from
volunteering information on the flight and accommodations,
but according to Yediot, he arrived in Monaco from
Vienna, where he had taken part in the private affair of
another millionaire, Martin Schlaff.
Unsatisfied with these assorted explanations, the Ethics
Committee adhered to regulations: "Funding for travel abroad
for a Knesset member may be considered an act of giving
material benefit aimed at influencing the Knesset member in
the course of his activity." The committee determined that
traveling abroad at the expense of an individual who is not a
relative falls under the category of "a gift," and therefore
decided to give all four ranking Laborites a stiff rebuke.
