State Comptroller to probe Netanyahus again over abuse
Former womens‘ advocate claims she was urged to recruit womens‘ groups to help Netanyahus’ case against caretaker
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
The state comptroller is ordering a probe into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara, and his office following an investigative report into Netanyahu’s inner circle, Channel 2 reported Tuesday.
Comptroller Yosef Shapira is to look into allegations made by Vered Swid, the former director of the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women in the PM’s office, that she faced abuse during her time working for Netanyahu and was pressured to use womens’ organizations to help the Netanyahus’ act against a former caretaker, Menny Naftali.
The allegations were part of a profile story earlier this month by Ilana Dayan of Channel 2’s long-running “Uvda” program, which included exclusive interviews with various officials who have been in Netanyahu’s inner circle, and inside information on the internal operation of his office.
During the November 7 report, Vered Swid recounted receiving a telephone call about Menny Naftali, a former caretaker at the Prime Minister’s Residence, who was awarded NIS 170,000 (about $43,735) in damages in February for mistreatment while working for the Netanyahus and was subsequently accused of sexual harassment, an accusation for which Judge Dita Pruginin said she found no evidence whatsoever.
“I received a telephone call from a close associate who doesn’t work at the office, and she couldn’t understand how I wasn’t recruiting brigades of womens’ organizations to the battle over Menny Naftali,” Swid told the program.
“Why aren’t you recruiting, why aren’t you helping?” Swid quoted the person as saying. “They’ve looked after you, they’ve extended your appointment.”
“I was in shock,” Swid recalled. “Sometimes you’re speechless, right? It was clear that I wasn’t recruiting and never got involved in things like this.”
In responding to this segment of the broadcast, the Prime Minister’s office derided “”False claims” intended to “bring media pressure to bear on the authorities to open an ‘investigation.’ And all for the sake of bashing the Prime Minister.” In part of a lengthy statement denouncing the entire program and Dayan, Netanyahu’s office said Swid “lavished praise” on Sara Netanyahu while she worked in the PMO.
It quoted what it said was a letter from Ms Swid thanking Mrs Netanyahu for her help “every day of the year to the women and children of Israel. Your door and your heart are always open to help and to move things forward.”
The statement continued that present and former workers at the Prime Minister’s office had witnessed “tens of occasions” during which Ms Swid had piled praise on Sara Netanyahu, “in contrast to the falsehoods she’s spreading around now… One of them testified this week. ‘As someone who accompanied tours by the Prime Minister’s wife and Vered Swid over several years for activities for Holocaust victims, children with cancer, battered women’s shelters and more, I heard Swid always speaking highly and telling everyone around how Sarah succeeds in combining her positions as the Prime Minister’s wife with her work as a children’s psychologist in the service of the public, while also committing herself to every opportunity to be active for the sake of the weak in society.”
The Uvda episode portrayed Sara as a problematic presence in the prime minister’s decision-making process, a power broker who is intimately involved in her husband’s work and decisions and who often has final say on government appointments.
Vered Swid said it was Mrs Netanyahu who called to tell her when her contract was extended. While working for previous prime ministers Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon, she had never received calls like this from their wives.
The Uvda program raised a series of concerns about Sara Netanyahu’s influence on her husband’s governance, but it was the PMO’s statement in response, bitterly assailing Dayan and calling her “a left-wing extremist,” that prompted a larger storm. Critics accused Netanyahu of inciting against Dayan and the media in general.
The request to the State Comptroller to launch the probe came from Ometz, a non-profit organization working for clean government.
Gavin Rabinowitz contributed to this report.
