Liberman docked four days’ pay for missing Knesset meetings

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman was docked four days’ pay for missing too many Knesset sessions during the winter session, Channel 10 reported on Tuesday.

An investigation by the Knesset Ethics Committee found that the Yisrael Beytenu chairman was absent from 38 meetings this winter, 18 more than the 20 permitted absences per session. Liberman cited his duties as foreign minister as the reason for his absences, but records show that only 16 of the missed Knesset meetings were due to official trips.

The committee did not find his supplementary duties a “reasonable justification” for missing 38 workdays, but it only fined him four days’ pay because of his role as foreign minister.

The committee also investigated Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, who missed 25 meetings during the winter session. Mofaz said that due to the Kadima primaries, in which he emerged the winner, he was “forced to make an exception” and not attend a large number of meetings.

Because it was Mofaz’s first time over the limit, the Ethics Committee let him off with a warning.