Liberman latest to be accused of hosting kids for Passover

Channel 12 news reports Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman broke the law and hosted family at his home for the Passover Seder, the latest senior politician to apparently be caught flouting regulations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin have both ben criticized for hosting their children during Passover despite strict regulations banning family visits during the festive meal. Earlier Health Minister Yaakov Litzman was found to have attended a prayer gathering, against regulations.

According to Channel 12 news, Liberman, a former foreign minister and defense minister, hosted his son and future daughter-in-law at his home in the settlement of Nokdim.

Asked about it, he tells the channel that the rules placing a closure on the whole country in order to clamp down on family visits were “ridiculous.”

“The decision by Netanyahu and Litzman to place a general closure on all citizens of Passover eve, as a solution to the ongoing shortage of tests and in the hopes of placating the ultra-Orthodox, was ridiculous. The clear conclusion from Passover night at [the Prime Minister’s Residence] is that Netanyahu himself doesn’t believe in the methods he is instituting,” he tells the channel.

A video released of the Netanyahu Passover Seder that included his son was roundly criticized. Although apparently filmed ahead of the holiday, it showed that Netanyahu was not keeping to quarantine measures that should have kept his son away. His office claimed contact was allowed because the son lived in a mysterious “apartment adjacent to the residence.”