We eat schnitzel daily, PM’s wife said to tell cops probing food spending spree

Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, denied the allegations that led to her indictment for misappropriation of over $100,000 in state funds to buy gourmet food, reportedly telling police the PM’s residence runs an “austerity regime” and they “eat schnitzel every day.”

The prime minister’s wife was indicted last week along with Ezra Saidoff, a former deputy director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, on charges of fraud and breach of trust. The two are accused of fraudulently charging some NIS 359,000 ($100,000) in gourmet meals to the state’s expense between 2010 and 2013.

In transcripts of Sara Netanyahu’s testimony to police during questioning, broadcast by Channel 10 news on Friday, she told investigators that officials were discriminating against her family in comparison to previous Israeli prime ministers and that some possible infractions occurred because she was unaware of rule changes designed to take away benefits from the Netanyahus, specifically regarding the use of waiters.

“I didn’t know the regulations had changed,” she told investigators, according to the report. “You are discriminating against us,” she said. “Whoever wanted to make that change during the Netanyahu era so that there wouldn’t be any waiters, did it out of evil, and it is a deliberate effort to screw over Prime Minister Netanyahu using his own employees.”

“All I was told was that the previous [prime ministers] got them [waiters] and that we would get them too,” she said.

She claimed that when Ehud Olmert was prime minister, the official residence in Jerusalem hired waiters to work events two or three times a month, but her husband “hardly ever entertains on a Friday night. At dinner, it’s him, his sons and his wife.”

Sara blamed Menny Naftali — the former Prime Minister’s Residence manager who last year successfully sued her for verbal and emotional abuse — for fraudulently ordering the meals, and said she had implemented a “regime of austerity” at the official residence since his departure.

“Since Menny, I’ve said we need to reduce expenses,” she said. “Today, our house is run by a regime of austerity. I didn’t like Menny’s wastefulness. I’m a very modest person and I do not like to waste. We don’t throw away food in our home… and so I’ve asked them that we order out less.

When the investigator asked Sara why she ordered out so much food, the prime minister’s wife denied that she had done so, and said that her family did not live extravagantly.

“What we eat at home is schnitzel, every day. I eat simply and and my home is modest. There are no fancy things at the Prime Minister’s Residence,” she said.

“They’ve built up an image of me as a duchess, but that’s a lie. The prime minister and his wife do not demand food for a duke or a duchess.”

However, she did note that she saw no reason why the household staff should cook “ptitim” (Israeli couscous) for her. “Do you see any reason why they should cook ptitim for me when I asked for fish,” she said. “What did I do to deserve ptitim.”

When asked by the investigator about her alleged use of state money to order hundreds of gourmet meals from celebrity chefs while falsely stating there were no cooks on staff, Sara reportedly said she was “a person who does only what… they have told me is permissible and legal.”

In the indictment, she and Saidoff are accused violating laws which ban the ordering of prepared food from outside when a chef is already employed at the Prime Minister’s Residence.

According to the indictment, Netanyahu falsely claimed there was no cook available at the Jerusalem home in order to justify purchasing meals from restaurants.

The charges against Saidoff are more severe as he is also accused of illicitly hiring chefs and servers for private meals at the Netanyahu home. The PMO staffer also allegedly falsified invoices for such activities in order to get them approved.

The indictment also covers the employment of an electrician, whose hiring had originally been scrapped by the PMO due to the man’s close connection to the Netanyahu family.

The prime minister has slammed the indictment against her, calling it “a new height of absurdity.”

Sara Netanyahu’s attorneys have also denied any wrongdoing on her part.

“There was no fraud and no breach of trust or accepting bribes or any crime at all. The prime minister’s wife, who is not a public servant, does not know the regulations, and passed a polygraph test when she was asked about this,” they said.

“Not only is the indictment based on false claims,” they said, “it is based entirely on invalid and illegal regulations that apply specifically to Prime Minister Netanyahu and to him alone.”

The decision to launch the investigation into Sara Netanyahu 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.

Under state regulations, cooks at the Prime Minister’s Residence are supposed to supply prime ministers and their immediate families with daily meals. Where cooks are not employed, the PM’s family is permitted to order external meals, up to a maximum cost of NIS 200 ($57) per person plus VAT. The state is also authorized to foot the bill for private guests of the prime minister and his or her spouse so long as this is not a social or family event involving more than 20 people.

A draft indictment, which was leaked last year, detailed allegedly illegal spending of up to NIS 25,000 (some $7,000) per month by the prime minister’s wife on meals from top restaurants in Jerusalem. It detailed 15 cases in which Sara Netanyahu ordered food from outside chefs including Shalom Kadosh and Lior Hafzadi.

In addition to the fraud case, Sara and Benjamin Netanyahu have also been questioned as part of the Bezeq telecommunications giant graft probe. The case involves suspicions Prime Minister Netanyahu advanced regulations benefiting Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch in exchange for positive coverage from Bezeq’s Walla news site.

Police have also recommended the prime minister himself stand trial for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in two other cases. The attorney general has yet to decide whether to press charges against the prime minister.

In Case 1000, Netanyahu and his wife are alleged to have received illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors, most notably the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, totaling NIS 1 million ($282,000). In return, Netanyahu is alleged by police to have intervened on Milchan’s behalf in matters relating to legislation, business dealings, and visa arrangements.

Case 2000 involves a suspected illicit quid pro quo deal between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes that would have seen the prime minister weaken a rival daily, the Sheldon Adelson-backed Israel Hayom, in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.

The Netanyahus have denied wrongdoing in all the cases.