Yes, it can happen here, too

PM’s Office admits top leaders are permitted to fly together.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Could a tragedy similar to Saturday’s plane crash in Russia that claimed the lives of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and many current and former government and military officials happen here?
Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office answered affirmatively on Sunday when they denied reports in the Hebrew press that the prime minister and defense minister are prohibited by longstanding Israeli regulations from flying in the same plane or helicopter.
The officials noted that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak traveled to and from Washington together three weeks ago and Netanyahu and Barak were joined by five other ministers on a January 18 trip to Germany for a joint cabinet session.
“On both occasions, the ministerial security unit [avtachat ishim]permitted the ministers to fly together,” a source in the PrimeMinister’s Office said.
Yediot Aharonot reported on Sunday that if the prime minister anddefense minister fly to the same destination, they have to takeseparate flights. The report said the same was true of the defenseminister and the IDF chief of General Staff but that the prime ministerand chief of staff were permitted to fly together.
The newspaper suggested that such regulations were being ignored to cutcosts, an allegation denied by the Prime Minister’s Office.