Netanyahus reject allegations against PM’s wife as ‘absurd, unfounded’
Amid report AG to indict Sara Friday for misuse of public funds, breach of trust, couple slam ‘obsessive’ campaign against them

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, reiterated on Thursday night their rejection of allegations of financial wrongdoing against Sara Netanyahu, hours after a TV report claimed that Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit is to indict the Israeli leader’s spouse on Friday for diverting some NIS 400,000 ($112,000) in public funds for her private expenses.
Sara Netanyahu is suspected of misusing state funds at the Prime Minister’s Residence, including receiving goods under false pretenses, falsifying documents and breach of trust.
A statement posted on the prime minister’s Facebook page late Thursday, and attributed to the Netanyahu family, said the accusations against Sara Netanyahu were “absurd and will be proven as unfounded.”
“Sara Netanyahu is a brave and honest woman,” read the statement, rejecting any wrongdoing and pinning any rise in expenses on “problematic” former housekeeper Menny Naftali, whom the Netanyahus also called a “criminal and a serial liar.”
Naftali served as caretaker at the Prime Minister’s Residence from 2011-2012 and has alleged he was verbally and physically abused by the prime minister’s wife during his employment. In February he was awarded NIS 170,000 (about $43,735) in damages from the state after a labor court accepted his claims. In August, he denied reports that he would become a state’s witness in the police investigation against Sara Netanyahu.
The Netanyahus ended their statement Thursday by slamming as “obsessive” the alleged campaign against them.
Channel 2 news reported earlier that Mandelblit had informed Sara Netanyahu of his plans to file the charges against her on Friday. The expected indictment is pending a hearing.
Mandelblit is expected to level four separate charges against Sara Netanyahu.
The most serious of those involves the hiring of electrician Avi Fahima, a Likud Central Committee member. A committee charged with overseeing residence expenditures — and which included the Prime Minister’s Office legal adviser — ruled against the hiring of Fahima, but he was employed regardless.
Further suspicions relate to the use of state funds for purchasing furniture. The furniture was apparently bought for the official residence in Jerusalem and then moved to the Netanyahus’ private residence in Caesarea, while older furniture was taken back from Caesarea to the residence in Jerusalem.
The prime minister’s wife is also suspected of improper use of state funds for her late father’s medical care and overdrawing from state coffers for private meals ordered to the Prime Minister’s Residence.
Sara Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing. Her lawyer has called the allegations against her “ridiculous” and part of the overall “persecution of the Netanyahu family.”
Over the weekend, Channel 2 news reported that Sara Netanyahu had taken a private lie detector test in a bid to shore up her version of events. She took the test at the Tal Polygraph center at her “own initiative” in order to “prove her version of events,” the center said, according to the report.
The center said Sara Netanyahu was found to have been telling the truth; however, such lie detector tests are not admissible as evidence in Israeli courts.
The decision to launch the investigation came in light of the state prosecutor’s recommendation after allegations were raised in a 2015 report by State Comptroller Yosef Shapira that detailed lavish spending at the official residence in Jerusalem, as well as at the Netanyahus’ Caesarea home.
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