Bottle-gate, Congress-gate, Police-gate

The Hebrew press on Friday takes stock of Sara Netanyahu’s “Bottlegate” affair, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contested address to the US Congress, as well as the endless sexual harassment allegations against Israel’s top police brass, as a week rife with charges of impropriety and scandal comes to a close.

Over in Haaretz, “Bottlegate” is front-and-center, and the paper’s Yossi Verter argues that the scandal did not affect the prime minister’s political standing — with the polls turning in the Likud’s favor for the first time in weeks. Still, he writes, Likud activists are starting to get fed up, and the ruling party has not yet addressed its solutions to Israel’s pressing economic and social issues.

“There were mixed feelings this week at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem. On the one hand, satisfaction with the polls, which for the most part placed the Likud and Benjamin Netanyahu in front in the election race. But on the other hand, there was worry and anxiety — to put it mildly — because of the growing maelstrom of affairs involving the management of the Netanyahu family’s homes, as publication of the State Comptroller’s report approaches, in 10 days’ time,” Verter writes.

“An MK who is very knowledgeable about the Likud ‘street’ reported to an interlocutor this week that the situation in the trenches is not encouraging, to say the least. Veteran Likud people and certainly those known as ‘Likud lite’ are indicating that they’ve had it. In the end, with all due respect to the Islamic State and Iran, they are the ones who have to cope daily with high living and housing costs, inadequate salaries, inordinately high fees and overdrafts at the bank, and a gloomy and discouraging economic horizon — just like the leftists,” adds Verter.

The paper also weighs in on the latest police sexual harassment case, as the seventh high-ranking officer in past months is questioned. It reports that a new ethical code for officers is in the works, and calls for the appointment of female police commissioners.

The paper reports that police are drafting a new moral framework for cops, outlining the boundaries of acceptable behavior between male and female police officers, and including the type of text messages that are deemed appropriate.

Haaretz, in addition, dedicates its editorial to the gender inequality in the police force.

“When sitting around the conference table at senior police headquarters, alongside the commissioner, are 18 men with the rank of major general and not a single woman of that rank, it is hardly surprising that the prevailing understanding is a chauvinist one that views women as inferior, lacking the necessary qualifications to attain the highest ranks and key positions and, as a result, subject to every whim of their male superiors,” it writes.

“Women constitute at least 30 percent of the police force, serving in all field positions including operational ones, as detectives, homicide investigators and station commanders. How is it that the force has failed to produce even one major general? Was there no woman who met the professional standards of the serving major generals, many of whom are now being ignominiously removed from the force?”

Over in Israel Hayom, the paper spotlights an interview with Republican Senator John McCain, who tells the paper he is pleased that Netanyahu will address the US Congress on the Iranian threat in a controversial speech. Asked whether the Democrats’ disapproval of Netanyahu’s visit — the invitation came from the Republican house speaker rather than President Barack Obama — ought to force Netanyahu to rethink his visit, McCain said that if the Democrats opt not to attend the speech, that’s their decision.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans will be listening intently, McCain claimed. He added that if Vice President Joe Biden walked out, it would be disrespectful to Israel, one of the staunchest allies of the US.

The daily quotes a Rasmussen poll according to which 42% of American respondents feel Netanyahu should give the address, regardless of Obama’s opposition; 35% say he shouldn’t, and 23% are undecided.

In Yedioth Ahronoth, sexual harassment allegations against Deputy Police Commissioner Hagai Dotan are spotlighted. According to the paper, the senior cop propositioned several female police officers, and kissed one of them. The senior officer did not deny the allegations, but said the remarks were said in jest, and the kiss “was not a sexual kiss, it was a fatherly kiss.” Dotan rejected the accusations that he slept with several women under his command. He was questioned for 12 hours on Thursday, the paper reports.

The allegations reached the police about six months ago, the report said, with “the receipt of an anonymous letter, which strengthened rumors floating around the police force for years about his problematic behavior.”

The paper also discloses that yet-another police commissioner — the eighth in the past half-year — may also be investigated for sexual harassment. It says police have received an anonymous complaint against an unnamed officer and are looking into it.

Concerning the upcoming March elections, Yedioth features a poll that places the Zionist Camp in the lead with 25 seats, followed by the Likud with 24, but columnist Sima Kadmon downplays the significance. She argues that “despite the revelations of corruption in the Prime Minister’s Residence, the enormous damage Netanyahu has done to the strategic alliance with the White House, and the inability of his government to present real accomplishments, including in its flagship issues — such as the Iranian nuclear program and the security situation — the Likud is stable, while the Zionist Camp, which was supposed to take the elections forward, still cannot — according to these figures — form a coalition.”