Amid internal feuding and leaks, Netanyahu has his staff undergo polygraph tests
Freshman Likud MK calls Netanyahu aide ‘chauvinist misogynist’ after he reportedly claimed she ‘owed’ her career to others; Likud party ombudsman asks how tests were paid for
Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu made his advisers take polygraph tests to uncover who was responsible for leaks to the press amid an ongoing, increasingly public dispute taking place within the party, according to a number of media reports on Monday night.
The feud, between members of Netanyahu’s office and Likud Knesset members, has been simmering for weeks over the allocation of positions to party members in the incoming government, with some details of the machinations being leaked to journalists.
In light of these leaks, Netanyahu recently ordered members of his staff to undergo polygraph tests. The Likud leader was also considering replacing some of his advisers when he enters the Prime Minister’s Office, according to the Walla news site.
Netanyahu has faced considerable pressure from within Likud over the ongoing coalition negotiations, with some leading members of the party accusing him of giving away top ministries to the other parties that are expected to join Likud in the government, leaving slim pickings for them.
This internal fight again came to a head on Monday when the Kan broadcaster reported that Netanyahu’s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman had disparaged Likud MKs Tally Gotliv and Galit Distel Atbaryan, saying they “owed” their careers to others and hadn’t earned them. (Likud denied the unsourced report about Braverman’s comments.)
Gotliv, who has repeatedly clashed with Braverman, responded to the report in a tweet late Monday night, calling him a “chauvinist misogynist” and demanding to see the results of his polygraph test.
“Tzachi Braverman, do I owe you something that I don’t know about? From what I recall, I got elected in the primaries, something you would never be able to do. Chauvinist misogynist. Did you have a polygraph? Show me it. You are damaging Likud and especially Netanyahu. An adviser like Ahitophel, that’s what you are,” Gotliv wrote, referring to the nefarious counselor to the biblical King David.
On Tuesday morning, the Likud party’s internal ombudsman sent a letter to Netanyahu, inquiring who had paid for the polygraph tests given to his staff members and warning that it would be improper for him to use party funds for this purpose.
In a statement, a spokesperson from Likud said all of those tested had passed.
Last month, Gotliv also accused Braverman and another Netanyahu aide, Iki Cohen, of leaking information to the press, after details of a private conversation she’d had with the pair was reported.
Polygraph tests, discredited as junk science by most Western countries, are still widely used in Israel.
