Report: PM looking for student to drive his kids on Shabbat

Outcry after newspaper ad for weekend chauffeur; sources say duties include ferrying Netanyahu’s adult sons

An advertisement placed by the Prime Minister’s Office for a student to work 120 hours a month driving on Shabbat has caused an outcry, amid reports that the duties include ferrying his adult sons from event to event.

The ad, placed by the Civil Service and the Prime Minister’s Office in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Thursday, defined the job duties as “driving a government car to run errands.”

Sources within the Prime Minister’s Office told The Marker news site that one of the driver’s tasks would be to ferry Netanyahu’s sons, Yair, 25, and Avner, 22, to and from events. Shabbat is a day off for the prime minister’s regular drivers.

The Ometz movement for quality government turned to the prime minister’s legal counsel asking why Netanyahu was using public funds for his family and personal needs. “The personal weekend travels of the prime minister’s sons, when their father is not accompanying them, is in no way a state matter,” it said.

The Prime Minister’s Office responded that it hires duty drivers for weekends with permission from the Civil Service Commission.

A spokesperson for the prime minister’s family said that the report that the driver will be ferrying the boys around is incorrect, not least “because Avner Netanyahu observes Shabbat and doesn’t drive on Shabbat.”

Ometz pointed out that the timing of the advertisement is particularly inappropriate, with Netanyahu is currently under investigation for allegedly illegally accepting gifts in what police have named Case 1000.

The case centers on allegations the Netanyahu family received hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cigars, champagne and other gifts, including having hotel rooms for Yair paid for by billionaire benefactors, among them Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and Australian businessman James Packer.

According to Ometz, in answer to police questioning “the prime minister claimed that ‘his children are private individuals who didn’t choose public life.’

“We would thank you if you could please explain how ‘private individuals’… earn the right to government transport funded by the state,” Ometz said.