Former employee accuses Sara Netanyahu of physical abuse, racism; PMO denies charges

A former worker at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence accuses the premier’s wife, Sara, of racism, humiliating treatment, and physical abuse.

The Prime Minister’s Office denies all allegations.

The worker, known only by his first initial “Y,” says in an interview with Channel 12 that Sara Netanyahu was openly biased in her treatment of Mizrahi workers in the residence, and treated them as second-class employees.

She also made an African foreign worker change out her clothes every time she arrived, and put on an outfit that was laid out for her. Sara Netanyahu didn’t let the worker take breaks to eat or drink, claims Y, and told other workers to give the African worker expired food.

Y also claims Sara Netanyahu pushed him physically on three separate occasions when she was unhappy with his cleaning.

Y, who was brought to work in the residence on Azza Street after overseeing the cleaning operations in the Prime Minister’s Office, was brought in to meet Sara Netanyahu a day before he started. She asked him how much he loved the Netanyahu couple.

He claims that she would check personally that he washed his hands with soap every time he came into the residence. He also had to wash his hands just to take her handbag from her every time she came home.

Sara Netanyahu was extremely demanding and obsessive about the cleaning in the residence, says Y. After a meal, he had to wipe down each piece of cutlery with three wipes before putting it in the dishwasher.

Y had to wash the floors of the residence with baby wipes, and wasn’t allowed to walk on carpets, he tells Channel 12.

She also demanded that Y pay for any cups broken while being washed.

Y says that he had to clean every hanger with a wipe before hanging clothes that came back from the dry cleaners on it. He says that he didn’t do it properly once, and Sara took a suit belonging to the prime minister off the hanger and threw it on the floor, while yelling at him that he would have to pay for the additional cleaning.

Sara Netanyahu had almost 400 pairs of shoes, Y says. He had to wipe every shoe, and would get yelled at if he put his hands inside any of them.

He says that she told him, “I am the top psychologist in the country, and you are autistic.” Y has a severely autistic son.

Y accuses her of having hoarding tendencies, and says she would yell at him if he threw trash out without getting her approval. She would also go through her husband’s trash, Y claims.

When the prime minister tried to intervene, she would tell him to stay out of it, says Y. “He wouldn’t decide anything,” he says, adding that Sara Netanyahu would tell her husband who to call and what networks to appear on after terrorist attacks.

The Prime Minister’s Office calls the report “baseless,” and says that Y was fired for “failing in his work.”

Y also levels accusations against Benjamin and Sara’s son Yair Netanyahu. Y says that Yair grabbed him and physically pushed him outside because his sheets weren’t washed.

Yair Netanyahu responded that he “never pushed the worker, didn’t curse or humiliate him, and didn’t disrespect him in any way. The claims are the fruits of a twisted imagination or an attempt to blackmail.”

Y claims that he was forced to work extremely long days. In October, he worked 169 hours of overtime, in November 143 hours, and in December 116 hours of overtime.