Netanyahu's former aide’s diaries reveal improper behavior
Netanyahu’s family responded by calling the report “deceitful, yellow, 10-year-old gossip that is unfit to be broadcast or printed."
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: JANUARY 23, 2019 06:09Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu stand next to the dedication plaque of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, after the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018.(photo credit: ILLUSTRATIVE/RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former spokesman, Nir Hefetz, kept a diary that revealed improper behavior by the prime minister and his wife, Sara, Channel 13 revealed on Tuesday.The report revealed that former Netanyahu chiefs of staff, Natan Eshel and Gil Shefer, supervised drivers who regularly took food from the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem to his private home in Caesarea.Netanyahu’s family responded by calling the report “deceitful, yellow, 10-year-old gossip that is unfit to be broadcast or printed and is intended as pressure for an indictment to be issued against the prime minister at any price.”According to the report, Netanyahu also asked to fund fixing leaks in the pool at his Caesarea home, and to pay for fixing a roof that has been broken since before he was elected prime minister.At the Jerusalem residence, the Netanyahus requested hundreds of thousands of shekels in renovations, the report said.The report added that in August 2009, officials in the Prime Minister’s Office complained about the Netanyahus refusing to pay for their own for food in restaurants.There was also a September 2009 event which Sara Netanyahu organized for MKs in the coalition, their wives and all of her husband’s aides – except for Prime Minister’s Office director-general Eyal Gabai, because he was not approving their expenses.The report said the event cost NIS 420 a plate each for some 120 people, plus thousands of shekels for flowers. Sara Netanyahu reportedly asked for the event to be photographed by the Government Press Office, but her husband did not approve it, because he did not want the lavishness to be documented when unemployment was rising.
