Netanyahu’s wife charged with fraud
JERUSALEM » Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was formally charged Thursday with fraud and breach of public trust in a long-running corruption case involving the use of outside caterers in the official prime minister’s residence, state prosecutors said in a statement.
According to the indictment filed in the Jerusalem District Court, Sara Netanyahu and the former deputy director of the prime minister’s office, Ezra Saidoff, were charged with ordering meals to the residence worth a total of $99,000 between 2010 and 2013.
Although the prime minister is not named in this case, the charges against his wife could have farreaching implications for his political standing and appear likely to damage his public image. Both during his first termas prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and since taking office in 2009, his wife has come under scrutiny for her perceived opulent lifestyle, often being portrayed by the local media as a kind of Marie Antoinette.
In 2016, a former chief caretaker at the official residence successfully sued the couple for abusive treatment, winning about $43,735 in damages. During his testimony, Meni Naftali revealed intimate details about Sara Netanyahu’s lifestyle, including her taste for pink champagne and other luxuries.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is consid- ering indicting Benjamin Netanyahu in two corruption cases on suspicion of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. Last week, the prime minister was questioned by police as a witness in a third case involving several of his close associates and in a fourth case in which he is suspected of playing a direct role.
In Sara Netanyahu’s case, which Israelis refer to as the “meals- ordering affair,” the prime minister’s wife and Saidoff allegedly falsified documents so that food from outside companies and private chefs could be used, even though there was a full-time chef employed at the residence.
According to the indictment sheet, investigators found evidence that Sara Netanyahu asked other employees to hide the fact that a cook was employed at the residence, indicating awareness that ordering meals from outside was a violation of the rules. Some of the testimony was provided by Naftali, who has waged an ongoing public battle calling for the attorney general to submit an indictment against the Netanyahus. In a statement, lawyers for Sara Netanyahu called the indictment “absurd and delusional” while proclaiming her innocence.
“This is the first time in Israel and around the world that a leader’s wife is prosecuted for food in the trays.” said the statement. “The wife of the prime minister, who is not a public servant, did not even know the procedures, and she told the truth about it when asked in a polygraph test.