After biting spree, Netanyahu’s dog quarantined

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s family dog, which bit two members of Israel’s political elite this week, has been quarantined by animal control in a detention facility, prompting the prime minister to call for reforms in veterinary public health policies.

Netanyahu said the incident exposed him to the “flawed” Israeli regulations that allow municipalities to isolate dogs who have bitten people for a period of 10 days, even if they have been vaccinated.

“On Thursday night we lit the fifth Hanukkah candle before we sadly had to turn our Kaia over to quarantine as required by law,” Netanyahu wrote on Facebook Friday.

“Following this incident, I encountered the issue of quarantining dogs and found it to be flawed and at odds with common sense and compassion.”

“I will ask experts in the ministries of Health, Agriculture and animal protection organizations to draft proposals to improve upon the existing laws,” he added in his post.

At a Wednesday Hanukkah candle lighting for Likud MKs hosted by the prime minister at his Jerusalem residence, the usually mild-mannered canine, a rescue pooch, bit MK Sharren Haskel and attorney Or Alon, husband of Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely.

Haskel, a trained veterinary nurse, took to the former pound dweller immediately, playing with Kaia until at one point, startled by the growing commotion and crowds at the residence, the dog bit her hand.

The prime minister, according to witnesses visibly embarrassed, accompanied the young lawmaker to a side room where his on-duty paramedics bandaged her hand.

Within five minutes, however, the prime minister’s embarrassment only grew.

Alon, who was unaware of Kaia’s bite only minutes earlier, approached the dog and began to pet her.

“Get away from her, she bites,” Netanyahu managed to utter seconds before Alon, too, felt Kaia’s tension rather sharply on his hand.

He, too, was bandaged by the prime minister’s medical team.

Both injured victims stayed for the candlelighting, appearing cheerfully in photographs with the prime minister.

Ironically, Haskel, a newcomer to the Knesset who replaced current UN Ambassador Danny Danon in August, recently spoke to the Knesset Channel about a bill she was planning to propose, under which dogs that bit people would not be quarantined in a detention facility, as is currently practiced in some cities.

The proposal would create a national policy under which biting dogs that had proof of immunization would not be put in detention, while those that did not have proof would be given “home detention.”

Currently, the policy is at the discretion of municipal authorities and varies by city.

Kaia was adopted by the Netanyahus in July 2015 after their son, Avner, found her at a pound about to be put down.

“Meet Kaia, ten years old, a gentle and mild-mannered dog that instantly became a member of our family,” the prime minister enthused on Facebook at the time.

According to reports, Netanyahu himself was bitten by the rescue pooch earlier this year.