Barely in office for three months, U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford received special permission to bring his former mistress – and ostensible fiancée, Maria Belen Chapur – along on a special interest junket to Israel.

Sanford received the exemption to take Chapur on the trip from Reps. Mike Conaway of Texas and Linda Sanchez of California, according to a report in this week’s National Journal. The couple flew to Israel on August 10 and returned eight days later.

“The American Israel Education Foundation spent more than $18,558 to fly Sanford and his fiancée to and from Israel for the weeklong journey,” National Journal reports. “They flew business class, records show, with round-trip flights that cost more than $5,000 apiece. They were part of a delegation of roughly two dozen Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy.”

Hmmmm … interesting company.

Also … should we be happy Sanford is no longer blowing tax dollars on such trips? Or upset that he is so quickly trading his influence for free trips with his “soul mate?”

As for the “work” done by the American Israel Education Foundation – a wing of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, D.C. – we would like to remind them of their own leader’s recent statements on the issue of American intervention.

“You don’t need to send American troops to defend Israel,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. lawmakers in May 2011. “We defend ourselves.”

Remember that, Sanford. In fact write it down. Then a picture of it. May come in handy later …