Highway robbery in the Knesset? MKs get paid a bundle for very little work

“Ever heard of a workplace that will pay you NIS 350,000 for showing up for three partial days?” 

By David Jablinowitz, World Israel News  

It has been the shortest Knesset term in Israeli history, but MKs will have earned hundreds of thousands of shekels for a very limited work schedule from April 30 until sometime in October, when the new House takes office, reports Israel Hayom.

After the April election, efforts to form a new government failed and the Knesset legislated a new election which took place on September 17.

Working with the composition of the new parliament just voted into office, President Reuven Rivlin is now to decide who should be given the nod to try to form a governing coalition.

It is not unusual for a new Knesset to be inaugurated before a new government is established, but the outgoing parliament is the first to have existed without a new government at all.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet established after the March 2015 election has remained in power, and the result has been very little parliamentary activity.

MKs spent “barely” three days in parliament, says Israel Hayom.

Yet, they are coming away with a respectable dividend, says the news outlet.

“Ever heard of a workplace that will pay you NIS 350,000 for showing up for three partial days?” the paper asks rhetorically. “Try the Israeli Knesset,” it suggests.

Plenary sessions were few and far between. There was the inauguration, of course, in addition to some ceremonial sessions, and a bit of voting. But that was pretty much the extent of it.

“For this period of time, which lasted five months, they will benefit from five salaries totaling NIS 220,000,” in addition to various perks, which raise the grand total even higher, says Israel Hayom.

Much has been made in Israel of the cost to the taxpayer of holding a new election just months after the previous one. An additional element was the cost of running a Knesset during an extended transition period and paying the salaries of elected politicians who were left with very little to do.