Sara Netanyahu will not be involved in her husband’s decisions about what
parties to include in his next coalition if he wins the January 22 election,
sources close to the Netanyahu family in Likud said Tuesday.
Likud MKs
and activists had expressed concern in recent days that Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu would end up forming a more dovish coalition with multiple Center-Left
parties, because of his wife’s personal dislike for the leaders of Bayit Yehudi
and Shas.
Arye Deri of the Shas leadership triumvirate recently insulted
Sara Netanyahu, telling an interviewer that he does not bring his laundry abroad
to be cleaned at a five-star hotel. She was accused of doing so in reports by
Channel 10 about millionaires funding the Netanyahus’ vacations, which became
known as the Bibi-Tours scandal.
The reports led to an investigation by
the current and former state comptroller and a forthcoming criminal probe by the
State Attorney’s office.
Sara Netanyahu had an ongoing dispute with Bayit
Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett and Knesset candidate Ayelet Shaked when they ran
Binyamin Netanyahu’s office, when he was opposition leader. The dispute centered
on how they were paid and how much she interfered in her husband’s
schedule.
“Sara couldn’t stand Naftali and Ayelet from the moment they
started work,” a source familiar with the situation said. “Sara kept on changing
the schedule about who Bibi [Binyamin Netanyahu] could see and not see. Naftali
wasn’t able to work. She saw Naftali and Ayelet as having too much
ambition.”
The prime minister’s closest associates also blamed Bennett
and Shaked for leaking information in the Bibi-Tours scandal to Channel
10.
A source close to the Netanyahu family said speculation about which
parties would be in the coalition was merely political spin of the parties
themselves.
The source said that Binyamin Netanyahu was not yet dealing
with building his coalition and that his wife was not and would not be involved
in deciding the makeup of the next government.
“The woman is not in
politics,” the source said. “Her husband is in politics, but Mrs. Netanyahu is
not. She does not deal with building the coalition.”