JERUSALEM — A relaxed and smiling Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared before a Jerusalem judge Sunday, the first hearing in a long-anticipated trial that will likely shed light on what critics often describe as her and her husband’s opulent and self-indulgent lifestyle.
Netanyahu, together with former deputy director of the prime minister’s office, Ezra Saidoff, is accused of ordering meals from private chefs and catering companies, tallying up a bill of some $100,000 in public funds between 2010-13, even though a full-time chef was already employed at the residence.
The prime minister is not directly named in the case but a very public trial against his wife could have far-reaching implications for his political standing and could harm his image at a time when he is said to be considering an early election. There will also be echoes from his first term as prime minister, 1996 to 1999, when his wife was under constant scrutiny for her behavior.
Even during his current term in office, Sara Netanyahu, who often appears at his side during important political and diplomatic events, has faced damning testimony from former employees describing extreme temper tantrums and an unhealthy obsession with cleanliness. She is often portrayed by the media as a kind of Marie Antoinette.
[Netanyahu on hot seat over free cigars, pink champagne and secret recordings]
Less than three years ago, 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 her, including a taste for pink champagne and other luxuries. Another trial, stemming from allegations of abuse filed by a former cleaner, is slated to begin later this month in Jerusalem’s labor court.
[Once a residence caretaker for Netanyahu, now a political foe]
Seeking to downplay the charges against her, Sara Netanyahu’s legal team released a statement Sunday saying this was the “first time in history that an indictment has been filed against the wife of a world leader for ordering trays of food.”
The statement highlighted previous claims that it was Naftali, the former caretaker, that had ordered the outside catering, against Netanyahu’s wishes. It also said that the food was used for official purposes and reiterated her legal defense that it was up to the parliament to “determine the expenditure procedures at the prime minister’s residence.”
In the hopes of avoiding a public trial, Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit did offer Netanyahu a plea bargain deal if she agreed to repay all the money in question. But she reportedly rejected the offer, a legal strategy that prompted two of her lawyers to quit.
Though Sunday’s hearing was only to determine if her case should be heard by a single judge or by a panel of judges, Netanyahu was required to attend. She did not speak during the hearing, which was not televised as is the regulation in Israel. Journalists were, however, allowed to observe.
According to the indictment filed last June by the Israeli police, Netanyahu and Saidoff falsified documents so that food from outside companies and private chefs could be used. Investigators also found evidence that she had asked other employees to hide the fact that she used outside chefs and was aware that ordering meals from outside was a violation of the rules.
As Sara Netanyahu faces the possibility of a drawn out and potentially embarrassing trial, her husband has his own legal woes. In February, the police recommended that he too be indicted, in two separate corruption cases. The first, dubbed Case 1000, raises suspicions he was involved in giving political favors for gifts worth around $280,000; the second, Case 2000, alleges he cut a deal with a newspaper publisher in exchange for favorable coverage.
The prime minister was questioned for the twelfth time Friday by police investigators. His office immediately downplayed the investigation saying in a statement, “now, after the 12th round of questioning, it has been made absolutely clear that not only is there is no meat in the prime minister’s investigations, there isn’t even a bone.”
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