3rd ex-PM worker alleges bad treatment by Netanayhu’s wife

Netanyahu family says reports of abuse all part of campaign to harm the prime minister’s image.

By HERB KEINON
Bibi and Sara Binyamin Netanyahu370 (photo credit: GPO / Kobi Gideon)
Bibi and Sara Binyamin Netanyahu370
(photo credit: GPO / Kobi Gideon)
A third former worker in the Prime Minister’s Residence is considering supporting two others who have filed suit against Sara Netanyahu for allegedly mistreating them while they were in her employ, Channel 2 reported Wednesday.
The report quoted an anonymous ex-employee who said she experienced the type of abuse alleged by two former workers who have come forward with suits over the last couple of weeks, Gil Eliyahu and Manny Naftali. The woman, who said she worked in Netanyahu’s official residence for eight months, said she was not going to sue Netanyahu but was considering supporting the testimony of the other two ex-workers.
“I went through the most difficult things in the house,” she said. “Nobody works there more than a month or two, because it is very difficult to work there.
The Netanyahu family responded by saying that, “as was expected,” the defamation campaign continues.
“Bitter workers trying to extort money from the state are receiving generous legal advice and wide publicity in order to defame the wife of the prime minister, trample her dignity, and in this way harm the prime minister,” a representative of the family said in a statement.
“We are convinced that the Israeli public is sick of this extortion and defamation,” the statement continued.
Wednesday night’s report followed by one day reports of Eliyahu’s lawsuit. He alleged that he was subject to humiliating treatment by Sara Netanyahu while working as the house manager’s assistant.
Eliyahu stopped working at the residence two-and-a-half years ago.
According to Channel 10, the lawsuit – soon to be served to the Prime Minister’s Office and operations manager Ezra Saidoff – claims that the residence was an “inappropriate workplace atmosphere,” and that Eliyahu was humiliated and did not receive overtime wages.
In the lawsuit, Eliyahu alleges that he was woken up in the middle of the night and ordered to come back to the Prime Minister’s Residence to heat up a bowl of soup for Netanyahu, and that he was also instructed to always wish her “good night.”
The lawsuit elaborates on the claim of an “especially traumatic” incident in which Eliyahu was accused of dirtying an outdoor table, whereupon Sara Netanyahu screamed at him.
“She picked up the tablecloth and everything on it, including dishes and utensils,” the lawsuit maintains.
“In the process, dishes fell on the ground.” The suit then claims that Netanyahu demanded that everything “be set again like new.”
Eliyahu also charged that Netanyahu would make fun of him in front of other employees and said he wasn’t “elegant enough.”
The accusations come on the heels of a similar lawsuit brought by Eliyahu’s former boss in the Prime Minister’s Residence, Manny Naftali, who also alleged misconduct in the workplace.
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.