Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, was called to testify today in court. The Netanyahus are currently embroiled in a lawsuit brought by a former caretaker of the official Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, Menny Naftali.
Naftali has claimed that he suffered from verbal and emotional abuse at the hands of Mrs. Netanyahu and has accused her of financial improprieties as well. The abuse, he asserts, violated his rights as a worker under Israeli law.
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The plaintiff also claims that he was promised more permanent work and that the Netanyahus reneged on this promise.
To refute that claim, a senior official at the Prime Minister’s Office, Yaniv Suissa, testified today that Naftali was actually paid severance for unused vacation days; even though, he had in fact used all of them, Ynet News has reported.
Suissa testified that, “People turned to us, they were worried he will sue the PMO – and then he was paid the money without the difference being deducted. All of the funds mentioned here were paid in retrospect. It made the PMO nervous and they paid him without checking things.”
Naftali earlier testified as to the verbal abuse which he suffered and to the extent of Sara Netanyahu’s drinking.
He is suing for 650, 000 Shekels ($170, 000) in damages, including 100, 000 ($26, 000) from Netanyahu personally for what he claims were slanders leveled against him in public.
Naftali testified back on March 25th. The Netanyahu’s released a statement in response to his claims saying, ““The baseless lies, slander and mudslinging which Mani Naftali told about the wife of the prime minister in court, who is not even a defendant in his case, are scandalous. Nothing less than that.”