From the Liveblog of
Friday, January 10, 2025
Key witness in PM’s trial: Sara Netanyahu threatened to kill herself, write letter saying it was because of me
Hadas Klein, a key witness in the corruption trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tells Channel 12 that the premier’s wife Sara once threatened to take her own life and leave a note stating that it was because of Klein.
Klein is the former secretary for the Netanyahus’ benefactor Arnon Milchan and a key witness in Case 1000, in which it is alleged Netanyahu illicitly received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cigars, champagne, and jewelry — much of it allegedly at Sara Netanyahu’s request.
In one conversation, she says Sara Netanyahu told her “that she’s late for work because of me, that they’ll fire her because of me… and worst of all, she said I’ll take my own life and I’ll write a note that it’s because of you and Arnon.”
Klein says she was fired by Milchan after she completed her testimony for the state prosecution in September 2022.
Last month, the attorney general and state prosecutor ordered police to launch an investigation into Sara Netanyahu after an investigative report revealed that she orchestrated the harassment of Klein by activists from the prime minister’s Likud party.
“The gates of hell were opened on me,” Klein tells Channel 12, describing a sustained, organized campaign of harassment against her, with thousands of online posts accusing her of immorality and criminality.
She says her husband expressed his fear that she could be killed.
Klein says pro-Netanyahu activists accused her of having affairs with Milchan, with James Packer — another alleged benefactor of the Netanyahus — with former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, and with Milchan’s driver Jonathan.
She also appears to confirm a report in the Haaretz daily revealing that President Isaac Herzog met privately with her in 2017 when he was opposition chair. Haaretz suggested that Herzog wanted to meet with Klein to rattle her regarding her testimony in the Netanyahu case.
Before they sat down in her backyard, Herzog asked that their phones be placed inside so that they couldn’t be recorded. Herzog told Klein that Netanyahu told police that Milchan was the one who insisted on giving Netanyahu gifts and not the other way around.
The claim angered Klein who said everyone knew that the Netanyahus were the ones who sought gifts from Milchan.
Herzog — who is also a friend of Milchan’s — issued a denial to Haaretz, insisting that he never tried to influence the Netanyahu case.
