Sara Netanyahu To Be Questioned in Bizarre Bottle Deposit Scandal
JERUSALEM — Israel’s first lady will be questioned over suspected spending irregularities at the prime minister’s residence.
Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly will be questioned Thursday, despite a request by her attorney to close the investigation.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein in February announced his recommendation of a preliminary investigation into allegations of overspending following the release of the comptroller’s report noting that expenditures at the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem “do not conform to standards of reason, proportionality, economical management and efficiency.”
Weinstein also took issue with expenditures at the family home in Caesarea.
He ordered that the probe be postponed until after last March’s national elections; the criminal investigation began in July.
Sara Netanyahu also is believed to have pocketed thousands of dollars from deposits on bottles paid for by the state.
She was sued in March 2014 by a family caregiver over claims that she was abusive and in 2010 by the family’s housekeeper for withholding wages and verbal abuse.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO