Former defense chief says top IDF officers had to pass interview with PM’s wife

Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon says that senior IDF officers who were candidates to be military secretary to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first had to pass an interview with his wife Sara.

Speaking to Hadashot news, Ya’alon accuses Sara Netanyahu of interfering in the selection process of military secretary, a key position.

“I don’t like to talk about the house on Balfour [The Prime Minister’s Residence] but at one stage I discovered that there was involvement in decisions on positions,” Ya’alon says in the interview.

“When we needed to choose a new military secretary, the candidates were sent for an interview with the prime minister,” says Ya’alon. “Then the chief of staff comes to me, one Friday, and says: ‘Listen, that was not an interview with the prime minister, that was an interview with his wife.'”

“That really makes me angry,” said Ya’alon, who has become a main critic of Netanyahu since his ouster from the Defense Ministry.

The prime minister’s military secretary serves as a go-between, passing messages from the Israel Defense Forces directly to the premier and vice versa. The job is often seen as a stepping-stone for higher positions within the military.