(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to New York last fall for the U.N. General Assembly cost more than $1.7 million, including a $1,600 haircut.
An itemized list of the trip’s expenses was released Tuesday by the Jerusalem district prosecutor’s office after a Ramat Gan attorney filed for the information under Israel’s Freedom of Information Law after being stymied in his efforts to see the list. Haaretz first reported the existence of the list and its contents in its main Hebrew-language edition Wednesday, and that the Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign ministry tried to suppress it.
Most of the expense of the six-day trip at the end of September and beginning of October was the flight, which cost $1.5 million. The prime minister does not have the use of a private plane and must rent one for such trips.
Among the other expenses on the list reported by Haaretz: make-up artist, $1,750; wine bought for the prime minister, $64.20; chocolate, $4.
Other line items include: removal of furnishings from the hotel rooms, $3,500; storage of the removed furniture, about $16,000; laundry for Netanyahu and his wife, $210; meals for Netanyahu and his wife, $1,860.
The Israeli Consulate in New York and the Israeli mission to the United Nations, under the auspices of the Foreign Ministry, handled the details and paid the bills, according to Haaretz.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not offer any comment in response to a JTA request asking about the expenses.
In May 1993, the Belgian-American hairstylist Cristophe Schatteman gave President Bill Clinton a $200 haircut while Air Force One was sitting on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
