Report: Attorney General to Indict Benjamin Netanyahu’s Wife, Sara

TEL AVIV – Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit will indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara for diverting public money to her private housekeeping expenses to the tune of hundreds of thousands of shekels in state funds, Channel 2 reported on Monday.

Police charged Mrs. Netanyahu with using state funds to pay for her late father’s caregiver, in addition to splurging on expensive meals at the Prime Minister’s Residence, employing an electrician for private jobs and purchasing garden furniture for the Netanyahus’ home in Caesarea.

Sara Netanyahu’s attorney, Yossi Cohen, said in response to the allegations: “If the reports are correct, we are talking about ridiculous allegations. How far will the persecution of the Netanyahu family go? Until the cup of tea that an employee of the residence gave Mrs. Netanyahu’s 97-year-old father on his deathbed while he lived there?”

Police suspect the Netanyahus of ordering NIS 11,000 ($3,050) worth of food to the Prime Minister’s Residence – which employs an in-house chef – despite receipts which show the food to have been purchased for the Prime Minister’s Office, Channel 10 reported.

The Netanyahu family issued the following response: “Yair Netanyahu [the eldest son] is vegetarian, Avner [the younger son] and Mrs. Netanyahu almost never eat meat, and the prime minister does not consume food worth thousands of shekels from a steak house. It would be interesting to find out the housekeeper’s part in these orders from 2011.”

Officials from the State Attorney’s Office recently decided to accept an indictment recommendation made by police in May 2016.

The Ministry of Justice stated, “We wish to clarify that at this stage, the Attorney General’s decision has yet to be made. When such a decision will be made, in addition to the added investigations as per the attorney general’s requests, a public announcement will be made.”