Another former employee at PM’s residence sues Sara Netanyahu for abuse
56-year-old French immigrant, who’s seeking $189,000 in damages for work-related harassment and abusive employment, describes outbursts by premier’s wife in diary handed to court
Another former worker at the Prime Minister’s Residence is suing Sara Netanyahu for mistreatment, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.
The woman, a 56-year-old immigrant from France, is seeking NIS 650,000 ($189,000) in damages for a series of accusations including work-related harassment and abusive employment.
The mother of five worked at the residence for five months, until November 2019.
In diary entries submitted to the court, she describes outbursts and verbal attacks by the prime minister’s wife.
“Enough! Save me! I just want to die. The problem is that I have no choice and everyone knows about [what is going on],” the woman wrote in one passage obtained by Channel 12.
“I pray that everything will pass and a miracle will happen. God, make a miracle for me! I can’t live another day with this psychopath. I’m dying to get out of here before it’s too late,” the former worker wrote.
In another entry, she recalled how she had forgotten to take out the trash one day. “She screamed at me, told me to go home and take a shower. When will this end? Every day it’s something new. She tells me that I’m dirty, stupid, a mole. No Mrs. Netanyahu, I’m not stupid nor retarded nor a mole. I’m a woman and a mother, who came to work for our prime minister.”
Several former employees have claimed mistreatment and abuse by the prime minister’s wife. The official residence’s former caretaker successfully sued her for verbal and emotional abuse, as did another former worker.
Just two months ago, Mrs. Netanyahu testified in court in a civil suit in which she is the defendant. Netanyahu called former prime minister’s residence employee Shira Raban, who is suing her for abusive work conditions, a liar, and accused her of trying to extort the country.
Raban, an ultra-Orthodox mother of three, worked as a cleaner at the Netanyahus’ official residence in Jerusalem for a month in 2017, when she was 24.
She alleges that the prime minister’s wife insulted her relentlessly throughout her short tenure. She filed her lawsuit shortly after leaving her position, seeking NIS 225,000 ($64,000) in damages.
Netanyahu has asserted that during the period Raban worked at the residence, the prime minister and his family were hardly ever there.
Netanyahu allegedly forbade the former staffer to eat, drink, or rest, and she was required to change her clothes dozens of times a day. She was also required to wash her hands about 100 times a day with hot water, and was expected to dry them with a towel separate from the one used by the Netanyahu family, the lawsuit charges.
In June, Sara Netanyahu was convicted of misusing public funds as part of a plea deal in a case involving allegations she illegally procured and then misreported catering services at the Prime Minister’s Residence.
The agreement saw Netanyahu escape a conviction of aggravated fraud, but confess to a lesser charge of taking advantage of a mistake. She was ordered to pay NIS 55,000 ($15,210) to the state — NIS 10,000 as a fine, and the rest as restitution.
