Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office fired three drivers from their positions driving the prime minister without prior notice last week, according to a report by N12 on Saturday.
The drivers had been in the job for 30 years and had worked for nine prime ministers including Yitzhak Shamir, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak and most notably as far as Netanyahu is concerned, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.
The drivers said they had been called to a talk with human resources who told them that they were fired, effective immediately.
Their representatives told Ynet that "the drivers are completely crushed. They are older people who are financing families with many children. These are operational and experienced drivers whose training cost the country millions. They were trained abroad."
The sources added that the drivers had received letters praising their work from all the prime ministers they served in the past, including Netanyahu.
LIKUD HEAD Benjamin Netanyahu leaves coalition talks with Shas chairman Arye Deri and Religious Zionist Party head Bezalel Smotrich in Jerusalem on Monday. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)The unofficial reason for their firing is that Netanyahu doesn't trust them anymore because they worked for Bennett and Lapid.
According to a Channel 13 report, the drivers are all witnesses in Netanyahu's trial. The Prime Minister's Office said in response that this was not the reason they were fired and added that there were other drivers who are also witnesses in the trial who were not fired.
What will happen to the drivers now?
Ynet reported that the drivers were not told whether they would be given a different driving role within the government, but even if they were, it would greatly harm their work conditions and significantly cut their salaries.
Sources in the government claimed that they were looking into reassigning the drivers to the president's convoy.
"The drivers who chauffer Prime Minister Netanyahu have been with him for many years," said a statement from the PMO. "The job of the prime minister's driver is a sensitive one, and it is the right of the prime minister to choose who will be with him in the car. As a rule, with the exchange of prime ministers, the trust-based positions have expired and will be re-evaluated in the near future."
