PM and wife to fly to US on private plane for fear of contagion — report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara will reportedly fly to next week’s signing ceremony of the Israel-UAE normalization deal in Washington on a private plane, separate from the rest of the Israeli delegation and press corps.

His office says this is to avoid contagion from COVID-19.

While the delegation will fly on a normal chartered plane, the premier and his wife will be flying alone due to fear of contracting the coronavirus while in the air, Channel 13 news reports.

The Prime Minister’s Office denies that the decision will increase taxpayer costs.

“The prime minister is reducing contacts as much as possible due to the epidemic and the flight to Washington is a complex operation that includes capsules to prevent infection on the flight or in the United States. Adding the private flight will not increase costs because the tender for the general delegation plane will open to other airlines,” the PMO says in a statement to the network.