Netanyahu spent thousands of dollars on garden maintenance in wartime, report says | Gravitas

Imagine a government spending over thirty one thousand US dollars on the maintenance of gardens at the private residence of a prime minister during wartime.

This very scenario unfolded in Israel, with fresh data revealing the extent of government expenditure on PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s residences.

As per information received by an NGO named – ‘Movement for Freedom of Information’, more than eight hundred eighty two thousand US dollars were spent by the government on residences of Netanyahu since January 2025.

This includes the house on Gaza Street in Jerusalem where he lives, his private home in Caesarea, the official residence on Balfour Street, and some service apartments.

If we look at 2025 alone, over six hundred forty two thousand US dollars were spent on the PM’s homes.

While salaries accounted for 74% of these funds, the REST were maintenance and operating expenses.

There is a catch though.

Details of suppliers were not disclosed for nearly 45% of this category of expenses in the name of national security.

Apart from the gardening expense mentioned before, the state spent over four thousand four hundred US dollars on replacing a bath tub at Netanyahu’s home.

Although food purchases were the single largest expense in 2025, the NGO flagged an anomaly.

76 food orders were received on 16th June last year, even though no official event was reportedly held that day.

What added to the intrigue was that the name of suppliers in all these orders were blacked out.

This is not all.

In the first six months of 2026, funds worth over two hundred thirty eight thousand US dollars were spent on Netanyahu’s homes.

While the amount may look smaller, the pace of spending so far indicates that annual operating expenses could be higher than last year.

This year too, food expenses accounted for a major chunk of the expenses.

However, about four thousand eight hundred US dollars were spent to replace another bathtub.

Although the NGO had also sought copies of invoices and receipts for these expenses, the PM Office rejected this, citing that there is no obligation to provide these documents.

But why is the disclosure of this information so vital?

According to the NGO’s CEO, it is vital for the government to be fully transparent regarding public expenses at a time when people are coping with a heavy economic burden and the consequences of war.

With Netanyahu already facing the heat over the war and corruption trials, the opposition is also likely to rake up the issue of expenses on the election campaign trail.