When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ousted on Sunday from his role, will he leave the official residence on the corner of Smolenskin and Balfour streets in Jerusalem’s Talbiyeh neighborhood?
It is a question it seems that no one has a clear answer to, but based on precedents, it could take some time.
In 1999, after losing the election to Ehud Barak, Netanyahu and his wife Sara took six weeks before vacating the residence. In 2016, during the negotiations to evacuate the illegal outpost of Amona in the West Bank, Netanyahu told the settlers he knew what it was like to lose a home.
“After the election in 1999, with no warning, I and my family were kicked out of Balfour,” Netanyahu reportedly said at the time. “Just like that with all our things we were kicked out to the street. We had to go to the Sheraton Plaza Hotel. It was a terrible feeling.”
The Balfour residence has been a central point in politics in recent years due to the Netanyahu family’s insistence on remaining in the home even during coalition negotiations.
Netanyahu reportedly offered a number of party heads in recent months to serve as prime minister in his place – in an effort to torpedo the Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid government – on condition he be allowed to remain in the Balfour residence.
Bennett, who is scheduled to be sworn in as prime minister on Sunday, is not expected to move with his family to Jerusalem. He will stay with his wife, Gilat, and four children in their home in Ra’anana to avoid uprooting the children from their schools and friends.
Bennett does, however, plan on using the Balfour residence for evenings he will remain in the capital, as well as official events, like hosting foreign dignitaries.