Is Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu Really Not an Important Person in Israeli Politics?

Phoenix-Bibi > Dear-Netanyahu >
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Something Fundamental

(Updated on Apr 29, 2010)

(JIWON: Have I missed something since last January? Please tell me if you ever read any updated news about this LEGAL battle.)

(Updated on JANUARY 18, 2010)

Please check
From The Healthiest Opposition Should Face ‘Corrupt & Aging BIBI’… and ultimately… the Israeli Future! (Dec 24-31, 2009)
COLLECTION-2: Is Phoenix-Bibi the “Prime Minister in Israel” or “Mafia Boss of Bosses in Beinisch’s Banana Republic”? Who’s Talking About Bibi’s Kadima? Check Bibi’s Labor, Too.
Yoel Marcus: A demikulo leadership Jan 5, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Bibi’s trick of summoning Livni and expecting her to decide to join his government within two hours also looks like something between a joke and an insult. (…)

(JIWON: After reading all the headache articles about Mrs. Sara Netanyahu and her maid, this was the only article surviving in my brain and heart.)

Netanyahu blames political enemies for story on wife Jan 18, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) Rimon said that people who failed to find anything that could damage Netanyahu targeted his wife out of desperation. (…) “If she screamed at me six times a day and at Netanyahu’s media adviser six times a day, she must scream at the prime minister at least once a day. I have nothing against the prime minister. I just believe he has to put her in her place.”

(JIWON: I feel funny when even the former Likud strategist Ronnie Rimon admits that there is a problem with Mrs. Netanyahu. I clearly remember how people furiously came out to support Mrs. Aliza Olmert during THAT period. Just funny… Does one imagine that Mrs. Bibi screams at Mr. Bibi at least once a day? Perhaps, it was Mr. Netanyahu himself, who treated his maid like what she claims, and Mrs. Netanyahu simply learned everything from Phoenix-Bibi, who was bigger than the State of Israel, according to public claim of Mrs. Sara, “Mother of the State of Israel”.)

Ex-housekeeper alleges abuse by Israeli PM’s wife Jan 17, 2010 / By Washington Post, ARON HELLER
(…) The report sparked heated debate on whether the domestic distraction would affect the conduct of the prime minister. One prominent columnist, Ben Caspit, went so far as to say that Netanyahu is “unfit” for the job. “The fact that he permits that problematic woman to decide, to appoint, to fire, to upset, to dictate and to apply pressure on organizations in their entirety renders him unfit,” he wrote in the Maariv daily.

(JIWON: Please imagine in case Mrs. Sara Netanyahu is “Genuine & Honorable” as her supporters claim. Is “the fact that he permits that ‘Genuine & Honorable’ woman to decide, to appoint, to fire, to upset, to dictate and to apply pressure on organizations in their entirety” render him unfit or justified for his job? Isn’t it interesting to RE-analyze the whore affair, starting from every happening during the Seventeenth-Knesset?)

(JIWON: Therefore, what will happen to PM Bibi’s “Two-State-Solution”… from now on? It is clear that Israel Media Watch was in a hurry to honor Adelson’s Freebie-Bibiton to “morally” stand against this “legal” affair. In sum, it is hard to understand exactly what caused this poor-or-arrogant maid to start her legal battle against the Israeli First Lady, since everyone knows that it wouldn’t catch enough LEGAL attention in Beinisch’s Banana Republic.)

(Updated on JANUARY 16, 2010)

Haaretz: We Are Ordered Not To Report This… Jan 15, 2010 / By Haaretz
Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice): We Don’t Report This! Period Jan 15, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
Murdoch’s British Media: Do You Know Why We Don’t Report This? Jan 15, 2010 / By Murdoch’s British Media

‘Housekeeper sues Sarah Netanyahu’ Jan 15, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Talkbacks for this article: 32
28. Absolutely stupid article and stupid discussion: …over private matters of Netanyahu family. Who cares about those lawsuits? Sarah Netanyahu is not important person in Israeli politics as well as her housekeeper. The real discussion should be on how is Bibi doing? / Mark – (01/16/2010 01:00)

(JIWON: I was not interested in this so-called legal happening until I found this comment. I am not interested in this affair, because I know Beinisch’s Media and Court members will never treat this female as they did in other cases such as Ramon’s Kiss-Scandal, in which a poisonous snake suddenly turned into a victim. Surely, Likud members know that the readers’ comments will be found in this place, and therefore, I couldn’t pick up specific comments. I just hope Israeli First Lady to answer in a countersuit if she is innocent. She should. If not, no one will believe Mrs. Sara. What’s more, if one side compromises with another, no one will believe both sides.

No matter what… how come this reader insists, whether Bibi’s employee or not, that Mrs. Netanyahu is NOT an important person in Israeli politics? I decide to post what I saved before as my private files, because I know Mrs. Netanyahu was busier than Mr. Netanyahu to check this computer work. And I made it clear that I didn’t like all the disgusting happenings around Mrs. Netanyahu during PM Bibi’s first term and I decided not to make this as an issue in my Knesset blog while organizing article about Phoenix-Bibi. Therefore, this is my very first collection about Mrs. Netanyahu.

Please enjoy collections below.)
COLLECTION-17: While Murdoch’s Media Remaining Silent. While the International Media Sincerely Following the Leader. Is US-Neocon Still Behind Murdoch’s British Media to Support Israeli Settlement Project?
COLLECTION-16: History of Israeli First Lady. From Paula to Sara
COLLECTION-05: In Netanyahu’s family, Sara has the last word. Let Bibi work.
COLLECTION-14: While Israeli Media Are Gagged, ‘National Bible Quiz’ Is Covering Up Anything-Sarah, Whether Bibi’s Son’s Grade Was Fixed Or Not. No Matter What, Father Netanyahu Is Going To Betray Everybody’s Wish And Divide Jerusalem.
COLLECTION-13: Another Housekeeper Sues Sara Netanyahu, Who Sues Ma`ariv. Meanwhile, Death Threats Are Issued Against Mrs. Sara’s Housekeeper.
COLLECTION-12: PM Bibi Defends Wife! It’s Too Bad That He Is Not Willing to Stand Up for Israel.
COLLECTION-11: In Any Case, Netanyahu is famous for NOT paying the bill.
COLLECTION-10: PMO: Truth Will Become Clear in Court! In Letter To Court, Mrs. Sara Flatly Denies Mistreating Maid, While Pay Slips Show Netanyahus Paid Maid Less Than Minimum Wage. First of All, It Won’t Shake Political System.
COLLECTION-09: Impossible to Judge Mrs. Bibi. After All, This Is the Same Sara, Who Publicly Stated That Phoenix-Bibi Is Bigger Than the State of Israel. Genuine and Honorable!
COLLECTION-08: PM Bibi to Travel Abroad. Is This Why Murdoch’s Media Remains Silent and International Media Follow It? BTW, Is This Really PM Bibi or Mr. Panic’s First Trip to Russia?
COLLECTION-07: Is the $has Party Behind This Lawsuit? Issue on the Jewish Sabbath While Phoenix-Bibi Gave $has More Money and Accused by His Maid, an Observant Jew.
COLLECTION-06: Fear Lives Here: Owners’ Message to Their Employees Is a Message Most of Us Women Receive Today. It Is This Treatment That Led Her to Stay Six Years With the Netanyahu Family.
COLLECTION-05: Even the Bibiton, aka Beinisch’s Haaretz Starts Speaking. Is the Chairman of ‘Israel Media Watch’ a Settler, too?
COLLECTION-04: Whether the Lawsuit by Maid a ‘Pack of Lies’ or a ‘Media-Orchestrated Political Conspiracy’ or ‘Simply-Truth’, It Will Become Political. Accused, Not Convicted, Though.
COLLECTION-03: Lawsuit a Smear Job. Hope There Be a Countersuit.
COLLECTION-02: An Open Letter to Sara Netanyahu
COLLECTION-01: Sara Netanyahu Fashion & Style

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While Murdoch’s Media Remaining Silent. While the International Media Sincerely Following the Leader. Is US-Neocon Still Behind Murdoch’s British Media to Support Israeli Settlement Project?

Peres slams media coverage of Netanyahu wife-nanny scandal Jan 20, 2010 / By Haaretz

Please check
From Italy-Belcanto > Barenboim and La Scala >
JIWON to ITALY: Therefore, I Went To ‘Il Corriere della Grisi’. Will Italian Leftists Call Me ‘Lega Nord’? I Care Nothing. Diaspora Jews or Arabs? Members of West-Eastern-Divan-Orchestra? I Never Compromise On This Issue (Apr 19 – 30, 2010)
(Updated on Apr 28, 2010)
Berlusconi: Italy’s Doors Only Open to Pretty Immigrants Feb 13, 2010 / By Murdoch’s American Media
The gaffe-prone politician, 73, held immigration talks Friday with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Berisha looked uncomfortable as Berlusconi joked at a press conference, “We will only accept pretty girls from Albania.” Opposition lawmaker Paola Pellegrini slammed the quip, calling Berlusconi “an indecorous old man.”

(JIWON: It was while I was following Berlusconi headlines. As usual, Murdoch’s media resumed its business to insult Italy and Italian prime minister. Suddenly, I became curious if he treated this comical scandal as he did in cases of Berlusconi-scandal.)

Netanyahu Family Rejects Housekeeper’s Lawsuit Jan 17, 2010 / By Murdoch’s American Media

(JIWON: It was all I could find. Is this the same media, which were crazy about reporting all the detailed information, and plus more, when it came to something-Berlusconi? So, I went to Murdoch’s British media. Nothing special. Suddenly, something weird started to catch my attention. I started to scan through the headlines about Netanyahu.)

Netanyahu: Settlement Halt Proves Israel Wants Peace Dec 6, 2009 / By Murdoch’s American Media
Netanyahu Threatens to Retaliate if Palestinians Declare Statehood Nov 15, 2009 / By Murdoch’s American Media
Netanyahu: ‘No Deal Yet’ to Free Israeli Soldier Held by Hamas for 3 Years Nov 24, 2009 / By Murdoch’s American Media
Israel: Palestinians to Blame for Impasse in Talks Jan 10, 2010 / By Murdoch’s American Media
Netanyahu Offers No Advance in Peace Talks Nov 9, 2009 / By Murdoch’s American Media

(JIWON: WOW! What a beautiful manipulation.)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Murdoch+Neocon

(JIWON: I didn’t know what a notorious figure Murdoch has been. Is it true what this statement says? “When it comes to politics, Murdoch, known in media circles as the “dirty digger,” is equally adaptable in pursuing his personal gain.”?)

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/07/b122948.html July, 2004
MURDOCH THE WAR MONGER: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE NEOCONSERVATIVE: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE OIL IMPERIALIST: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE INTIMIDATOR: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE NEWS EDITOR: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE BUSH SUPPORTER: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE BUSH FAMILY EMPLOYER: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE MIXER OF BUSINESS AND POLITICS: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE NEW YORK CITY POLITICAL BOSS: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE DEFENDER OF REPRESSIVE REGIMES: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE APOLOGIST FOR DICTATORSHIPS: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE PROPAGANDIST FOR DICTATORS: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE ENABLER OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE HIDER OF MONEY IN COMMUNIST CUBA: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE UNION BUSTER: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE CORPORATE TAX EVADER: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE LOVER OF OFFSHORE TAX HAVENS: (… bla-bla-bla…)
MURDOCH THE ABUSER OF TAX LOOPHOLES: (… bla-bla-bla…)

Get out of MySpace, bloggers rage at Murdoch Jan 8, 2006 / By Murdoch’s rival British media
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON’T KNOW MURDOCH Mar 18, 2006 / By Myspcace-Blogger
(…) What most of the trendy wendy’s remain blissfully unaware of is the fact that MySpace is Rupert Murdoch’s battle axe for shaping a future Internet environment whereby electronic dissent, whether it be against corporations or government, will not tolerated and freedom of e-speech will cease to exist.
MySpace has been caught shutting down blogs critical of itself and other Murdoch owned companies. They even had the audacity to censor links to completely different websites when clicking through for MySpace. When 600 MySpace users complained, MySpace deleted the blog forum that the complaints were posted on. Taking their inspiration from Communist China, MySpace regularly uses blanket censorship to block out words like ‘God’.
(…) MySpace is Rupert Murdoch’s trojan horse for destroying free speech on the Internet. It is a foundational keystone of the first wave of the state’s backlash to the damage that a free and open Internet has done to their organs of propaganda. By firstly making it cool, trendy and culturally elite for millions to flock to establishment controlled Internet backbones like MySpace, Murdoch is preparing the groundwork for the day when it will stop being voluntary and become mandatory to use government and corporate monopoly controlled Internet hubs. The end game is a system similar to or worse than China, whereby no websites even mildly critical of the government will be authorized.
(…) In saying all this we do encourage everyone to set up a MySpace account, but only if you’re going to use it to bash MySpace, Rupert Murdoch and copy and paste this article right at the top of the page! See how long it is before your account is terminated.

(JIWON: What the hell. I didn’t know anything when I first expressed my respect of his Middle East vision after reading articles to report his meeting with Israeli President Peres. How come this dictator figure can criticize Berlusconi as Italian dictator?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace
MySpace China: The simplified Chinese version of MySpace, launched in April 2007, has many censorship-related differences from other international versions of the service. Discussion forums on topics such as religion and politics are absent, and a filtering system that prevents the posting of content about Taiwan independence, the Dalai Lama, Falun Gong, and other “inappropriate topics” has been added. Users are also given the ability to report the “misconduct” of other users for offenses including “endangering national security, leaking state secrets, subverting the government, undermining national unity, and spreading rumors or disturbing the social order.”

News Corp.’s China moves a worry in U.S. Murdoch has subjected MySpace in that nation to heavy censorship June 25, 2007 / By LA Times, Joseph Menn
(…) MySpace China executives declined interview requests, and News Corp. officials also would not comment, citing the sensitivity of issues related to China and Murdoch’s wife, who has been something of a lightning rod within the family.
Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son, Lachlan, who was considered the heir apparent to his 76-year-old father, relinquished his executive position with the company two years ago, in part to protest modifications Deng Murdoch was seeking of a trust set up to pass control of News Corp. to Murdoch’s four oldest children.
A compromise was reached last year under which Murdoch’s two young children with his current wife would get shares equal to those of their four older half-siblings, but the four adults would retain voting control.
Privately, Murdoch lieutenants portrayed MySpace China’s local ownership as a blessing for News Corp., because the parent will be spared from many of the hard decisions that Google and Yahoo have faced.
In other words, MySpace China can please the government without Murdoch getting much heat from outsiders. Officially, News Corp. licenses the MySpace name and software to MySpace China, and is only a minority investor. A key partner in the project is China Broadband Capital Partners, an investment firm run by former telecom executive Edward Tian.
But News Corp. executives said Murdoch still calls the shots. Tian is a good friend of the Murdochs, and Beijing analyst David Wolf said that because Murdoch and Tian “see each other as kindred spirits,” Tian could be expected to act as Murdoch wishes.
Deng Murdoch has been described as a MySpace China director, but News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher confirmed that she also serves as “chief strategy officer” despite her New York residence. She keeps an office at MySpace in Beverly Hills and has sat in on senior staff meetings, according to employees there. She flew to China three times late last year to set up the business, said these people, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
“It’s a minority investment in name only,” said one former News Corp. executive familiar with the setup.
Butcher denied that Murdoch was in charge, saying: “It’s wrong that News Corp. is driving the train.”

(JIWON: I didn’t know this Chinese part, either.)

What Does Rupert Murdoch Want From Saudi Arabia? Jan 19, 2010 / By Trueslant.com
Late last week two of the world’s most colorful, controversial and powerful billionaires met to discuss what could be one of the most interesting media deals of the young decade. Feared, revered and reviled Aussie-American mogul Rupert Murdoch played host to high-flying, outspoken Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal AlSaud. Topic of discussion: synergy.
Saudi billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal held meetings this week with News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch to discuss investments, including Rotana Media, according to a statement from the prince’s office Saturday. The meetings, which took place in New York on Jan. 14, “touched upon future potential alliance with News Corp.,” the statement said, adding that Rotana and LBCSAT, 90% owned by Prince Alwaleed, were discussed.
via Saudi Prince, Rupert Murdoch Discuss Alliances – WSJ.com.
The Prince’s wholly-owned Rotana is easily the largest entertainment company in the Arab world with a magazine publishing division, a television network, radio channels, the largest library of Arab music and film and an immense ad sales network. News Corp already has a deal with Rotana to air Fox movies over certain channels but the ongoing negotiations could see News Corp buying a 10-20% direct stake in the Saudi media giant. Through his personal investment vehicle, Kingdom Holdings, Alwaleed, in turn, is the second-largest shareholder of News Corp, with a 5.7% stake.
So, what’s in it for Murdoch? “Major Saudi media company” probably resonates as an oxymoron- a bastion of press freedom, the Kingdom sure ain’t. And while News Corp flagship FOX isn’t known for promoting multicultural dialogue or embracing Islamic culture, some viewers feel differently. As right-wing blogger Debbie Schlussel artfully put it:
Rupert Murdoch and FOX News are about to increase their dangerous intercourse with a vehemently anti-Israel Saudi Prince’s business interests. And you can bet it will affect FOX News’ already soft coverage of Islam and negative stories involving violent Muslims.
Via debbieschlussel.com
Some Arabs aren’t thrilled with the notion either. According to activist Palestinian blogger Iqbal Tamimi,
Arabs see Murdoch as a person who does not respect them, their faith, or heritage. The majority say that he is gambling with his money if he thinks that the Arabs will forget his far right wing political news machine, or his pro-Israeli stands.
Via Middle East Views | Why would Murdoch want to Buy Stake in Saudi Media?.
But hard-nosed Murdoch is not concerned about politics or pleasing critics. He’s in it for the money (he’s not a billionaire by accident) and a Rotana deal holds loads of potential for it: The Middle East is home to 300 million Arabic speakers, 65% of whom constitute the coveted under-30 demographic. Contrary to stereotype, young Arabs are voracious media consumers and Rotana has a lock on the pop mass-market. Best of all: ad spending in the region is predicted to grow at 20 times the rate of the North American market, which is….well, I don’t need to tell you.
So Rupe gets reams of young, savvy, fairly affluent consumers, Prince Alwaleed gets media expertise, credibility, exposure to the US market and more opportunities to grandstand to the press [To read a very entertaining profile of the swashbuckling Prince, see Kerry Dolan's March 2009 Forbes story].
A no-brainer. As for Alwaleed’s other high-profile investment, Citigroup- repairing that mess will contentious.

Is Murdoch behind Alwaleed’s News Channel Plan? Apr 27, 2010 / By Middle East Online
The new news channel would borrow from the business model used at Rupert Murdoch’s Fox and Sky News channels while broadcasting different content in the Middle East. This is bad news for the Arab audience, since both channels mentioned are seen as biased and degrading towards Arabs and Muslims, notes Iqbal Tamimi.
The Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has a wealth of $18bn, by which he can play whatever games he chooses and buy whatever toys he like to experiment with, including racing against Al-Jazeera satellite channel or even stick his tongue out to the Saudi news Channel Al-Arabiya.
TV is the most important media platform in the Arab World, where viewership is one of the highest in the world in terms of the time individuals spend watching TV.
People in the Arab Region watch 13% more television per day than people in Europe and 53% more than people in the Asia Pacific region. Only people in North America watch more TV. It has even been found that one of the GCC countries, Kuwait, watch television more than any other place in the world. And while Kuwait is the nation with the highest level of television viewing in the world, Saudi Arabia and UAE are in the top five, according to Eurodata TV Worldwide, EGEDA Association.
Alwaleed has the wealth needed for such project, and he has the backing up and the professional support and expertise of his new media partner the Australian American media mogul Rupert Murdoch; even though while Prince Alwaleed was talking to Bloomberg TV yesterday, he said the channel “is something I will be doing personally”. He also said that the channel wouldn’t be produced through Kingdom Holding or Rotana.
Prince Alwaleed is the world’s richest Arab, he could have bought the Saudi news Chanel Alarabiya if he wanted to, but it seems that he has a surprise up his sleeve, or it could be what many media analysts were suspecting. Murdoch started occupying the Arab World by sharing the toys of Alwaleed.
According to Bloomberg, the new news channel would borrow from the business model used at Rupert Murdoch’s Fox and Sky News channels while broadcasting different content in the Middle East. This is bad news for the Arab audience, since both channels mentioned are seen as biased and degrading towards Arabs and Muslims since they project the image of Arabs and Muslims as terrorists ignorant savages, guilty until proven innocent while at the same time Murdoch never miss an opportunity without declaring his total support of Israel.
How will Alwaleed’s news channel deal with such issues, how will he deal with Saudi related controversial issues of breaches of human rights? Who is going to be in the driving seat? Is he going to be in the front seat while Murdoch is driving from the back by remote control? And what kind of employees Alwaleed will be shopping for? Is he going to attract a majority of a certain nationality who made the media establishments they are working for a family business as another Arab TV channel did? Will he be able to offer proper professional training to his employees or will he do what the other Arab news satellite did when it has left the beautiful looking faces experiment with the current affairs screen while the management kept camouflaging their mistakes over and over again, even though such darling faces are still failing the pronunciation test.
Alwaleed said that he plans to sell a stake in his media company Rotana Holding to the public within two years. So, it seems that he is departing gradually from the entertainment business, to be part of the control game. I hope he understands that this line of business needs intellectual and professionals and not pretty faces, and not to fall into the trap of trying to please some authorities by allocating certain number of opportunities to GCC workers, regardless of their abilities to handle the news kitchen, in an attempt to nationalize his project and gain the blessings of the elders.
Rotana agreed in February to sell a 9.1 percent stake to Murdoch’s News Corp for $70m as the company seeks television, movie, production and technology expertise. But the worries stem now from the fact that the Arab nations do NOT trust Murdoch. If Alwaleed can keep Murdoch busy with the entertainment side of game, by keeping a distance from the news project, Alwaleed might shift the pyramid of news production in the Arab world and create hopefully a descent professional platform that represent the Arab audience not the political systems.

(JIWON: Finally, Murdoch in Arab worlds… Poor Palestinians.)

Please check
From Phoenix-Bibi > The Healthiest Opposition >
COLLECTION-21: How Many Israeli Politicians Are Behind Mrs. Said’s Spanish WEDO & Its Corrupt Palestinian Society? Who Are They?
Obama: U.S. expected too much from Israel, PA Jan 24, 2010 / By Haaretz
Akiva Eldar: Whose failure is the Mideast peace process? Jan 21, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Obama is holding Israel and the Palestinians equally responsible for the stalemate in the negotiations. (…) Obama was surprised by the force of the Saudis’ support in freezing the construction in the settlements and East Jerusalem completely. (…)

(JIWON: While doing this work, I kept reporting what I found about Saudi. Saudi is the same Saudi. Which information is reliable?)

Read Between the Lies: What’s behind Rupert Murdoch’s trash-talking of Google? Nov 10, 2009 / By Slate, Jack Shafer
Rupert Murdoch knows two modes: doing things and talking about doing things.
When he’s doing things, nobody does so more decisively and with greater impact than Murdoch. Take, for example, his destruction of U.K. union power at Wapping, his purchase and transformation of the old Metromedia television group into the Fox Broadcasting Network, his acquisition of Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones, his aggressive entry into satellite broadcasting around the world, his poaching of NFL football from CBS, his establishment of the Fox News Channel, his wily and victorious bid for MySpace, and his carbon-cutting initiative, just to name a few of his unswerving exploits.
And then there is Rupert the talker, who preaches about the importance of free speech and civil liberties while routinely undermining them with his actions in China, who talks the Tory line until it suits him to talk Labor and then only until it serves his interests to switch back to Tory. If Murdoch bothers to say something, it’s almost an even bet that he’s lying.
(…) When Rupert Murdoch speaks, he’s either lying or filibustering. The only sensible time to listen for him is when he’s running silent.

(JIWON: Now that Murdoch’s business wants to cover both Israel and Arabs while supporting Netanyahu’s Settlement project, he will have to either lie or filibustering. First of all, he will have to encourage Palestinian corruption in the most effective way. Keep watching, please.)

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History of Israeli First Lady. From Paula to Sara.

Yoel Marcus: From Paula to Sara Jan 21, 2010 / By Haaretz
Although Israel’s “first ladies” have no official status, each of them shaped her status according to her personality, opinions and character. In late 1963, when David Ben-Gurion was in conflict with his party, a last attempt was made to prevent his downfall with an official journey to the five socialist Scandinavian countries, which were guaranteed to receive him with open arms. And that’s what happened. Our ambassador to Copenhagen and his wife invited B-G and his wife Paula to their luxurious home for a meeting with the press. The journalists asked questions, B-G replied and Paula napped.

When B-G had finished, waiters appeared with drinks and cocktail sandwiches. Paula, who woke up and saw the waiters and the luxurious home, raised her voice: “What’s this here? For this you made Ben-Gurion [that's what she called him] leave the official guesthouse? Who is paying for all this, Rockefeller? In Israel there are people who have nothing to eat and you’re serving caviar?”

The ambassador’s wife was ready to faint and the military secretary, Col. Haim Ben David, in dress uniform, whispered in her ear: “Paula, the place is full of journalists.” Just as angry as before, she turned to him and raised her voice: “And what are you doing here? Go home to the army!” That was Paula, straight to the point, defending her husband to her last breath. During a visit by Dag Hammarskjold, the bachelor UN secretary general who was not very friendly, Paula said: “The time has come for you to get married and make less trouble for us.”

Paula was the wife who used to stand behind the curtain in the Knesset. As opposed to B-G, who hated Menachem Begin, she liked him. And Begin, like a Polish gentleman, would always kiss her hand. Paula would often say to B-G when they were with the family, “Why are you persecuting him? He’s so nice.” But she was not involved in politics, she was in charge of the family budget. B-G kept a comb and small mirror in his pocket, but not a wallet. She would fiercely protect his rest time, and if party hacks arrived while he was napping, she would chase them out and scold them.

Tzipora Sharett would stay out of the limelight, but in Sharett’s diaries she is mentioned often, which proves that she served as a listening ear to him, and he respected her opinion. Miriam Eshkol, a Knesset librarian whom the widower Levi Eshkol married, was both involved and vocal. After the Six-Day War, Mariuma, as Eshkol called her, claimed that a putsch had been carried out against Eshkol when he was ousted from the defense portfolio. She kept a diary that she does not intend to publish, but she is still loyal and interprets him for biography writers.

Leah suited Yitzhak Rabin like a glove. He was the handsome Palmachnik with the basso profundo voice, and she was the girl with “the most beautiful legs in Hashomer Hatzair” – the Zionist youth movement. On the way to the top they complemented each other. He was shy by nature, and when he became prime minister she pushed him into high society. Neither of them – he with a glass of whisky in hand, she dressed in the latest fashion – missed a single event to which they were invited. Leah did not intervene in politics but was aware of her husband’s interests. And although they often hosted important people, they did not forget their old friends. Rabin resigned from the premiership in 1977, when his wife was tried because of an unexplained $20,000 that was discovered in a bank in Washington, where Rabin had served as Israel’s ambassador.

From the time he returned to power, Leah was always there for him, and after his assassination she made sure to perpetuate his name on every site she could. Loyal to the end, Leah loudly declared her anger at this writer because of a critical article about her exaggerated efforts to substitute Rabin for old and important names.

In his emotional speech on the night of the “upheaval,” when he won the election after seven failures, Begin thanked his wife Aliza for “following me in the desert, in an unsown land.” Aliza was not involved in politics, but she was with him all the way, more as a Siamese twin than a wife. Even in the underground, even during the long seven terms in the opposition. He burst out crying in Los Angeles when he was informed of her death. “Before my trip the doctor promised me that her life was not in danger,” he said, crying bitterly.

Sara Netanyahu is very pedantic about cleanliness, often appears at her husband’s side, whether or not it is necessary, and always smiles. She is so jealous that once when Limor Livnat had an appointment with Netanyahu, they wrote a man’s name in the planning book in the Prime Minister’s Office in case Sara took a peek. And she used to peek.

Sara is a woman with extreme political awareness. She brought from her childhood home a belief in Greater Israel and is involved in appointments in the PMO. Under other circumstances she could have been an MK instead of harassing her maid. As Claire Booth Luce – who came from the family that founded the Time Magazine group and served as a U.S. ambassador to Italy – once said: “If God had wanted us to think with our wombs, why did He give us a brain?” Sara’s problem is not her brain, but her character.

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In Netanyahu’s family, Sara has the last word. Let Bibi work.

Report: Sara Netanyahu foiled UN ambassador appointment Feb 1, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Sara Netanyahu pressed her husband to reject the candidacy of Alon Pinkas for the position of UN ambassador due to an article he wrote in Newsweek, …
Gideon Levy: Sexism, Mrs. Netanyahu and Mr. Livni Jan 25, 2010
What would happen if the husband of a woman Israeli PM were involved in her diplomatic activities?

Please check
Did Coward Bibi Cancel PM Netanyahu’s Trip to US Nuclear Conference? Why worry? American Billionaire Adelson Knows How To Solve It… In The Most Commercially Profitable Way. Sooner or Later, Adelson’s Bibiton Will Have a Monopoly On Israeli Media And All Israeli Journalists Will Be Gagged, Except When Praising ‘Bibi or Settlercracy’
COLLECTION-12: Time To Characterize This Open Society, ‘Adelson’s Likudniks’ or ‘Adelson’s Bibiton’. Is It Really a Human Gathering Of ‘Patriotic Ideologists’… Or ‘Mere Job-Seekers’?
Netanyahu seeks chief of staff to fix his dysfunctional bureau Apr 14, 2010 / By Haaretz
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would like to appoint a chief of staff to improve his dysfunctional bureau’s performance, Haaretz has learned.
However, unless certain members of the bureau staff leave, the appointment may increase the tensions and power struggles ailing the bureau even further, officials say.
The Globes newspaper reported Monday that Netanyahu’s favorite for the post is Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Yuval Rotem. Rotem was mentioned several months ago as a potential candidate, but Monday’s report prompted the prime minister’s bureau to issue a statement saying Netanyahu wants to reshuffle things soon.
“The prime minister is examining various candidates both from the Prime Minister’s Office and outside it to replace bureau director Ari Harow, who has been forced to leave for personal reasons,” the statement said.
Harow, who left several weeks ago due to health problems, and bureau chief Natan Eshel, had been in charge of the prime minister’s schedule and telephone calls and the bureau’s activity at large.
In the past year Eshel, formerly deputy CEO at the Yisrael Hayom newspaper, was frequently criticized for not being familiar with defense, state and economic affairs, and for not being part of most of the prime minister’s activities.
The harshest criticism was over Eshel’s appointment, which was reportedly due to his close ties with Sara Netanyahu. A major part of his job was said to be maintaining contact with her.
The prime minister’s aides denied that Eshel was on his way out.
“Natan Eshel will remain bureau chief, and there is no intention of replacing him,” an aide said. “In addition, the prime minister is considering appointing a chief of staff for his bureau.”
Netanyahu’s bureau has been dysfunctional for a year, racked by internal dissent and the ill-defined responsibilities of various officials. However, what has mainly been lacking is an authoritative bureau chief, one capable of coordinating between the prime minister’s advisers and other ministries.
However, it is not clear how appointing a chief of staff alongside the bureau chief will improve things, officials say.
On the contrary, the appointment could lead to more friction. It is also hard to believe the remaining advisers would accept a chief of staff’s authority and give up their powers and direct access to the prime minister.

Yossi Sarid: Will Michelle Obama agree to meet Sara Netanyahu after all? May 18, 2009 / By Haaretz
(…) Nevertheless, it is difficult to avoid the question: Why, why does every such visit to Washington have to include a tinge of brazen effrontery and embarrassing pushiness? The prime minister is going for a “working visit,” according to the official description; the trip will last all of two days; and it is not exactly clear what Sara will be doing there with him – unless this brief separation is like a living death for Benjamin Netanyahu, or his wife’s good advice is absolutely essential in these exceptionally complex political and diplomatic circumstances. (…)

Yoel Marcus: Netanyahu is proving himself – let him do his job Jul 15, 2009 / By Haaretz
It’s time we stopped this nonsense called the “100 days” test. The concept originated with President Roosevelt’s success in passing legislation to solve the 1929 economic crisis. Even before that, it took 100 days from Napoleon’s escape – from the island of Elba back to Paris – to his demise. John F. Kennedy, America’s hope, stumbled shortly after his election in the unsuccessful military attack at Cuba’s Bay of Pigs.
One hundred days are meaningless. Nobody expected David Ben-Gurion to proclaim Israel’s independence in 100 days or to achieve anything concrete 100 days afterward. We’ve had good leaders and bad leaders, without having to count. Dalia Itzik didn’t have to wait 100 days in order to announce that “Bibi is squeezable and crushable.” Nor do the media convey a true picture of Bibi’s performance in his first 100 days.
It is impossible to address the prime minister’s performance without focusing on a matter called Sara, which occupies the media ad nauseum. The classic struggle in Jewish families is usually between the mother-in-law and the bride. In Netanyahu’s family, according to the grapevine, Sara has the last word. She meddles in appointments and even in policy. Rumor has it that in his previous term there was a written agreement between them that he must take her to every event. After the great defeat she vanished from the scene.
With his electoral victory Sara returned and is allegedly involved in his appointments. There’s a joke making the rounds about the work distribution in the Netanyahu family – the 100-year-old father is responsible for ideology and the wife for staffing the bureau. And since his spokespeople have a credibility problem, his recently enlisted son has been posted in the Israel Defense Forces Spokesman’s unit. This whole Sara business, why and to whom should it matter?
In our macho-land, few politicians’ wives have dominated their husband. Paula Ben-Gurion was pretty aggressive and used to scold the military secretary as well as Yitzhak Navon. She even called yours truly “phlegmatic,” because I didn’t attend some reception. Shimon Peres’ relationship with his wife is also the stuff of a romance novel. Recently she went back to her maiden name. Some say it’s to make sure they’re not together in the hereafter as well.
One hundred days or not, with or without Sara, the truth is that Bibi has brought color back to Likud’s cheeks. He raised his party from 12 Knesset seats to 27, an unprecedented success, while Labor is a wink away from becoming a semi-colon in the state’s functioning. True, Kadima has the advantage of one additional Knesset seat, but Bibi managed to establish a stable government that does not depend on anyone’s whims. Even Avigdor Lieberman and Benny Begin have turned into lambs.
But the media is replete with stories about the goings-on among the advisors, spokespeople and secretaries in the prime minister’s bureau. Not only are there too many ministers, some say that dozens of personal aides are wrestling with each other over who will do what and who is more important than whom.
Ben-Gurion, whose legacy included establishing the state and conducting the War of Independence with his staff, had about half a dozen aides. A military secretary, a foreign-affairs secretary and a couple of typists. The less “historic” the leaders, the more aides they have. Both Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak’s confidants waged wars with each other.
But all this is trivia. Bibi is at the helm during a fatal crossroads in the state’s life. He is locked in an unprecedented clash with an American president who doesn’t play with mannerisms of love for the Jews. An expose by Orly Azoulay in last weekend’s Yedioth Ahronoth cites a “source close” to U.S. envoy George Mitchell, saying “Obama is not Bush and if Israel isn’t with him in the move he’s leading, he won’t harm it, but it won’t enjoy that special status that is critical for it.” This is not simply worded. Never has an Israeli prime minister been under such a harsh threat as Netanyahu is from Obama.
Bibi has formed a functioning government, which in a time of need could be boosted by Kadima. The ideological move he is spearheading is different from that of the previous government. If impeded, he will not succeed. If we don’t let him work, we won’t know whether this is a different Bibi. We can criticize him for deviating from a political or ideological line, but don’t tug the hem of his jacket, and leave him alone with the shtetl nonsense. Let Bibi work.

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While Israeli Media Are Gagged, ‘National Bible Quiz’ Is Covering Up Anything-Sarah, Whether Bibi’s Son’s Grade Was Fixed Or Not. No Matter What, Father Netanyahu Is Going To Betray Everybody’s Wish And Divide Jerusalem.

(JIWON: Sorry about saying this. But I grew up in the world of music and competition. I know how the local competition works whenever a celebrity’s power and money got involved in the affair. And this case is more than special, since its theme deals with Jerusalem, which should be never divided by Netanyahu government. What is interesting is that my kind of comment also appeared in Jerusalem Post.)

Netanyahu’s son joins IDF – with bodyguard in tow Jul 21, 2009 / By Haaretz
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s oldest son has begun his mandatory three-year military service. Netanyahu accompanied his son Yair to a military induction center in Jerusalem Tuesday to see him off. The 18-year-old Yair boarded a bus to another army base where he will be processed. He will then go through three weeks of basic training before joining the military spokesman’s office. Yair will be the army’s only private with a personal bodyguard. Netanyahu himself was an officer in an elite Israeli commando unit. The prime minister has another son, Avner, with his wife Sara and an older daughter, Noa, from a previous marriage.

Netanyahu’s teen son wins Bible Quiz Feb 3, 2010 / By Jewish Telegraphic Agency
(…) the news service reported. Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu have two sons; the prime minister also has a daughter from a previous marriage. (…)

Netanyahu Jr. wins National Bible Quiz Mar 17, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Talkbacks for this article 14
1. Amazing…: Among ALL the 12,000 Jewish and Muslim children in that competition he won… how inspiring… but I doubt that kind of filthy, pathetic, sleazy corruption is as common in Israel as it is in the United States. Netanyahu, you are a disgusting disgrace to whatever religion you are trying to hijack for personal gain. / Walter: USA 17/3/2010 09:39
2. The 64000 dollar question: I am sure that it was fixed! / Mati: Israel 17/3/2010 11:30
3 – 14. We-Love-Netanyahu: (… NO need to post the rest of them…)
(…) After winning the Jerusalem district’s semifinals with 98 out of 100 points, Avner Netanyahu was in good stead to win, achieving the best result out of all the competitors despite being the youngest in the finals. (…) On Tuesday, the Netanyahu family attracted attention before the finals had even begun. The competition’s final question is traditionally asked by the prime minister. However, in this case, to counter possible claims of nepotism, the rules were altered, and Bible Quiz host Jackie Levy asked the deciding question to the anxious young finalists.

Netanyahu’s son Avner wins National Bible Quiz Mar 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
Avner Netanyahu, the son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, beat out 12 finalists and won the National Bible Quiz on Tuesday in Kiryat Shmona. The competition began with 12,000 contestants around the country. (…) The national quiz, one felt, has not seen such popularity in years. Drora Halevy, the Education Ministry’s supervisor of Bible instruction in state schools and a member of the judges’ panel, said she was moved by the heightened interest in the contest yesterday. However, she understood that behind the hype was the participation of the prime minister’s son. (…)

PM’s son one of National Bible Quiz winners Mar 17, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Talkbacks for this article 19
3. its fixed i tell you!: seriously, well done I’m sure he did it all through hard work and study. Can’t be easy for him with the pressure of his famous parents. / Avi, Israel (03.17.10)
(…) Avner Netanyahu was eventually crowned Bible Quiz winner of the state education with 88 points. Or Asuel, the only girl to take part in the national contest, won the first place in the general competition with 104 points. (…) At the end of the ceremony, Prime Minister Netanyahu refused to respond to question on current affairs, but was glad to talk about his son’s success. (…)

NEED TO FIND ONE MORE BY HAARETZ

(JIWON: Bible Quiz is only staring… They are now threatening.)

Netanyahu’s Brother-in-Law, the Winner of Bible Quiz: Obama’s an Anti-Semite Mar 17, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
Dr. Hagi Ben-Artzi, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s brother-in-law, labeled U.S. President Barack Obama an anti-Semite in two radio interviews Wednesday. The Prime Minister immediately disassociated himself from his remarks and outright rejected them. (…) He said that he did not speak personally with his brother-in-law about his comments but discussed with him the achievement of Avner Netanyahu, the Prime Minister’s son, who advanced this week in the national Bible Quiz. Dr. Ben-Artzi noted that the achievement was symbolic “because the theme for this year is Jerusalem and its connection with the People of Israel.” He said he told the Prime Minister, “You, Avner’s father, stand at a test that requires you to prove the strong link with Jerusalem.”
Yossi Verter: Independence Day-ja vu Apr 22, 2010 / By Haaretz
Bible Quiz dream: Avner Netanyahu’s participation in the finals of the World Bible Quiz on Independence Day in Jerusalem is a wet dream for the event’s organizers (if they have them): the son of the prime minister, a bona-fide contestant? Not to mention the possible sensation of 15-year-old Avner being crowned the winner – by his father.
Up until a few days ago, it was clear that the asking of what is called the “prime minister’s question” – a custom as old as the quiz itself – could not be done this time by the prime minister himself. Netanyahu himself deliberated about the matter. While he was deliberating, he read in the newspaper – to his astonishment – that the organizers of the contest had already found someone to do the job: Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin.
After the Speaker acceded, meetings were arranged between him with the contestants and the event’s producers. It was agreed that he would receive the question a few days before the quiz, and could comment on it. After the question is accepted by all the parties involved, the envelope containing it will be placed in the safe in Rivlin’s office and will be brought by him personally to Binyanei Ha’uma for the quiz.
Had they been as careful about confidentiality and encoding of documents in the office of the head of the army’s Central Command, we would be in a different situation today.
Rivlin was excited as only he can be. But earlier this week, the PMO approached the contest’s organizers, with what was either a complaint, a plea or a supplication: to allow Benjamin Netanyahu, under these unusual circumstances, to ask his son and the other contestants the “prime minister’s question.”
The organizers understood that this was a request that could not be refused. They apologized to the Knesset Speaker and agreed on the following conditions with the PMO: The sealed envelope with the question will be handed to him only when he goes onstage. In that way he will not be able to leak any information about it to any of the contestants, something that could determine the fate of the quiz. The PMO reported that Netanyahu intends to be very strict about field security-related considerations when it comes to handling the secret question.

Netanyahu’s son stumbles over father’s question, takes third place in International Bible Contest Apr 20, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Avner Netanyahu answered the first two questions correctly but erred on the third question – the Prime Minister’s question asked by his father, but which due to the circumstances was written by contest moderator Neria Pinchas. (…)

(JIWON: Now, even Yedioth Ahronoth tries to please the Netanyahus. Weirdly enough, what appeared in Settlers’ newspaper’s comment’s section during the early days is now appearing in this leftists’ media’s comment’s section.)

PM’s wife: Bible appeals to secular youth too Apr 26, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Talkbacks for this article 7
3. Bible appeals to secular youth? says who?: OK, her husband is in bed with Shas – but that really doesn’t warrant sweeping statements from Bibi’s misses. / Talula, Israel (04.27.10)
5. really no one criticized this article?: no one pointed out that the first place winner of the contest was Or Asuel! no one wondered why this article isn’t about her? really? are you sure? / (04.27.10)
7. Reading and applying: I encourage everyone to read the Torah, it’s written for the everyday man and woman. Don’t confuse it with the traditions that make up the other study books. / Singer, NYC USA (04.27.10)

(JIWON: Meanwhile, Netanyahu wins Likud internal vote. And Father Netanyahu is going to betray all the wishes of FOLKS!!!)

Analysis: Likud vote is about power, not peace Apr 29, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) Netanyahu has pushed the Iranian threat aside. (…)

Netanyahu wins Likud internal vote Apr 29, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) Netanyahu had worked hard in recent days to encourage committee members to vote in favor of his plan to amend the party’s constitution. (…)

Feiglin: ‘The story is Jerusalem’ Apr 29, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Netanyahu Wins Vote to Delay Party Elections Apr 29, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settler’s Voice)
Feiglin repeated throughout the day his prediction that the results of the vote today would determine the future of Jerusalem: “Netanyahu wants to delay the elections for the new Central Committee, so that he can have quiet for the next year or two and cut a deal with Obama for the division of Jerusalem, just as Obama has been demanding.”
(…) The call (from National Union) may fall on deaf ears, however, because Feiglin has often stated his belief that the nationalist camp has no chance of passing its agenda unless it does so via a major party, namely the Likud. The chance of Feiglin having enough power in the Likud to pass that agenda is almost nil after today.
In Likud party primaries in 2007, Feiglin ran for the second time for party leader, receiving 23.4% of the votes while losing to Netanyahu. Feiglin was voted into the 20th spot on the party’s Knesset candidates list prior to the 2009 elections, but was later demoted to #36 in what many feel was an undemocratic move.

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Another Housekeeper Sues Sara Netanyahu, Who Sues Ma`ariv. Meanwhile, Death Threats Are Issued Against Mrs. Sara’s Housekeeper.

Working
Netanyahus sue Israeli paper Ma`ariv for NIS 1 million libel damages Jan 25, 2010
Suit comes after article alleged the premier and his wife fired elderly gardener from their service.
Talkback

Another housekeeper sues Sara Netanyahu Jan 25, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Feb 22, 2010
14:07 Second former maid sues Netanyahu family over allegedly insufficient pay (Haaretz)
Gag order lifted on case filed against Sara Netanyahu
Details of court settlement between Sara Netanyahu and her housekeeper cleared

Former Netanyahu housekeeper claims to be getting death threats
Ha’aretz – Assaf Uni, Ofra Edelman – ‎2 hours ago‎
His aides have vehemently denied the allegations against Sara Netanyahu. “When a man enters public life, he expects attacks against him,” the prime minister …
PM’s ex-worker claims death threat Jerusalem Post
PM’s ex-housekeeper says got threatening call Ynetnews
Israeli Media Turn Up the Heat on Sara Netanyahu After Cleaning Lady Files Lawsuit ABC News
The Australian – The Guardian
all 196 news articles »

Second death threat issued against PM’s former housekeeper Jan 27, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Lilian Peretz complains to Hadera police of threat against her four children; Netanyahus sue ‘Ma’ariv’ for libel.
Netanyahu’s ex-housekeeper: My life was threatened
Ynetnews – ‎4 hours ago‎
Last week, Peretz filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, in which Peretz claimed Netanyahu abused, humiliated and …

Perhaps, Mrs. Sara should prepare TWO lawsuits. Countersuit & Additional suit against commenters, who mention specific names.
PM’s ex-worker claims death threat
Former Netanyahu housekeeper claims to be getting death threats

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3836859,00.html

PM’s ex-housekeeper says got threatening call
Jan 19, 2010
10
1. Sara
Other people who worked for Sara also complained about her. Even her father’s Filipinit complained too. So who’s telling the truth here? / Another Sara, Israel (01.19.10)

please check this guy…
OECD report: Israel a poor, divided country Jan 19, 2010 / By Ynetnews
5. IN PURELY ECONOMIC TERMS
I confidently and unequivocally state that Israel is, without doubt, the worst place in the world for a Jew to live and work in, aside from such places as Haiti or Syria. The system is corrupt and unfair and impossibly stupid and bureaucratic. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few (20 families like a mafia.) ISRAEL HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME. / LAWRENCE, SAFED ISRAEL (01.20.10)

Servants and masters Jan 19, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Talkbacks for this article 22
9. There is nothing dis-honorable in working as a maid: But there is something stupid about continuing to work under those conditions. The economic situation is Israel is not THAT BAD that anyone needs to hold on to a job where they are humiliated and mistreated. This lady should have quit a long time ago. / David, Jerusalem (01.19.10)
12. David #8 and #9 said it all: Liberalism is indeed a mental disorder / Israeli 2 (01.19.10)
5. So small heart!!!
If Sarah has a small heart, I wonder? How is the heart of Netanyahu!!!! / Salma, Palestine (01.19.10)
6. hurrah for sever!
The Netanyahus have always been notorious as people who tried to take advantage of people in weaker positions. Hence the famous short-changing of the contractor who did renovations on their flat in the 90s, hence their freeloading meals off the king david when bibi was last pm, hence the fact that, in the 90s at least, bibi always “forgot to bring his wallet” during numerous visits to Jerusalem restaurants, often forcing the poor waitress to pay his extravagant tab while waiting for an aide (who invariably never came) to repay her. I know of at least two cases where this is true, and have heard of many more. “Spare my wife and children,” sez bibi. I say, “Spare us your shrewish wife.” / hs, jerusalem (01.19.10)
11. Sarah’s behaviour is revolting – SHE is revolting
Let’s not forget she was once a trolley-dolly – and just because she was elevated from trolley-dolly status – doesn’t mean she’s better than anyone else. She’s ugly , inside and out and thinks of herself as deserving. Bibi should have married me. / Talula, Israel (01.19.10)
14. Employers in Israel take great advantage.
Sarah Netanyhou is not the only one, nor the worst one. This should be settled in court, and not in the news. In the North it was a practice that teens worked 3 days for free in restaurants as part of their “training”. Some of the most prestigious people will employ office workers at almost minimum wage and only give exactly what the government requires them to give, even after several years of employment and loyalty. On the other hand, employment is hard to find, so most workers should not take it for granted. But as I said, this should be settled in court, not in Ynet. / vered, israel (01.19.10)
17. To those from abroad
To those from abroad who think it’s so easy to just get another job, it isn’t. Where this maid lives, jobs are not abundant. The unskilled labor force is often taken advantage of. We expect the wife of the prime minister to set a better example and not abuse her power. / R, Israel (01.19.10)

Bibi’s hair salon
Ynetnews – Itamar Eichner – ‎Dec 30, 2009‎
Yedioth Ahronoth has learned that Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu have recently installed a modest hair and makeup salon, with all the necessary accessories, …

PMO: Truth Will Become Clear in Court
Arutz Sheva – ‎Jan 17, 2010‎
… against the Prime Minister’s wife saying, “the Prime Minister’s wife, Sarah Netanyahu, is the victim of an attack of people with political interests. …

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PM Bibi Defends Wife! It’s Too Bad That He Is Not Willing to Stand Up for Israel.
Working

같은날…
Editor’s Notes: Vicious criticism …
Netanyahu and his wife are under dramatic media fire. To date, the …
By DAVID HOROVITZ
Column One: Keeping Zionism’s promise
Netanyahu used his speech at the notorious death camp to nudge what …
By CAROLINE GLICK

Sara Netanyahu still in hot water Jan 18, 2010
타이틀바꿀 것 Behind the National Leader
PM calls on press to leave his family alone Jan 18, 2010
In Germany, Netanyahu says his wife not involved in day-to-day running of state, but makes him a “more humane prime minister.”

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3836269,00.html

PM defends wife over lawsuit
Netanyahu offers first comments on lawsuit filed against his wife Sarah by former housekeeper, says: ‘You don’t put family in the line of fire,’ Stresses, ‘My wife does not interfere in state business’
1. The Netanyahu Family would never do such things !
This is celar cut defamation against the Nethanyahu. They just WANT MONEY! / Benjamin, singapore (01.18.10)
2. Someone should have told Bibi twenty years ago
that psych majors need a psych. It sounds as though almost everyone who has worked for her has complained. Including the security people. / Observer, US (01.18.10)
3. PM Defends Wife
It’s too bad he is not willing to stand up for Israel. / Bruria (01.18.10)
4. Netanyahu Defends Sara
The lawsuit is a personal Netanyahu matter right or wrong. Asking the PM of Israel during a press conference in Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel is so out of place. Aim glad to stands behind Sara maybe he can still to stand behind Israel / Lorry, Israel (01.18.10)
5. The Emperor’s wife MUST be above reproach
Mr. Netanyahu really I am sure there is a cross reference to this quote in your favorite book “The Prince” by Machiavelli! / (01.18.10)
6. GIVE HER A BREAK ALREADY!
/ OZ (01.19.10)
Jan 18, 2010
01:32 Netanyahu, Merkel to meet Monday on Iran, Palestinian issue (Reuters)
I feel funny. Wasn’t PM Bibi’s German issue going to include Palestine and Culture?
Defense Binds Germany, Israel Jan 19, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva
Iran tops agenda as Germany, Israel hold joint cabinet meeting Jan 18, 2010
Merkel backs tougher sanctions on Iran JP
Israel, Germany team cooperate on aid
Germany’s Merkel backs more sanctions against Iran
[ 18/01 17:13 updated 18:21 ]
Israel and Germany sign cooperation memorandum for assisting Third World
[ 18/01 16:18 updated 16:23 ]

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In Any Case, Netanyahu is famous for NOT paying the bill.

Yoel Marcus: Netanyahu isn’t, and never will be, a true leader Apr 23, 2010 / By Haaretz

“Dear Mr. Prime Minister, I have known you for 14 years. Time after time, I believed you. But something very bad has happened this year. Your time is running out; this is your last chance. You must put an end to the occupation.” Thus wrote Ari Shavit in an open letter to Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu that appeared in Haaretz’s holiday supplement. I don’t know what my colleague was expecting of Bibi, who in their 14-year-long acquaintance, and despite Shavit’s considerable support for him, has never heeded the authoritative advice he heaped upon the politician in his columns.

I have known Netanyahu for more than 14 years, from back when he would invite journalists to a restaurant and then forget to pay the bill. I knew him when he was Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations. At the time he was planning his return to Israel and insinuation into the Likud leadership. He selected me, as one of the political correspondents he called from New York, in order to choose the right time to return to Israel and join the top ranks of Likud, with an eye to succeeding Yitzhak Shamir as prime minister.

As a political strategist, his timing was right. He was appointed deputy foreign minister, and later on deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, under Shamir. Netanyahu defeated Shimon Peres in the 1996 election, which was conducted against the background of frequent terror attacks. His campaign slogan promised to achieve “secure peace.” I especially remember a lunch at the Sheraton Hotel in which he tried to persuade me that he had to watch his words in order not to lose Likud voters. “But after I’m elected,” he promised me, “even Haaretz will be pleased with me.” As time progressed it became clear that he did not back any of his words with actions. The “secure peace” slogan became fodder for “Hahartzufim,” the Israeli version of the British satirical television show “Spitting Image.” This was the period in which Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef referred to Netanyahu as “a blind goat.”

We will not recount here Netanyahu’s conduct during his first term as prime minister. In addition to failing as a leader, he was seen by perceptive observers to have a tendency to panic. Fears of a second attack on Iraq by the United States under President George H.W. Bush were kindled, and he ordered the replacement of the gas masks issued to all Israelis. It was Ariel Sharon (who was national infrastructures minister at the time) who told me in utter confidence that “the prime minister asked to examine the possibility of using a weapon type that must remain nameless.” Sharon called Rafael “Raful” Eitan, and “the two old warriors,” as he called them, warned Bibi that if he merely asked what and how, “we won’t have it any more.” The implication is clear.

In addition, Netanyahu came very close to being tried in the Bar-On-Hebron affair, and was saved from shame by attorney general Elyakim Rubinstein’s sharp speech in his defense. Netanyahu was roundly defeated by Ehud Barak in the election. When the results became known, Bibi extinguished his big Cuban cigar in a dish of delicacies prepared by the Hilton Hotel for his headquarters and resigned from the Knesset, and even his close aides said that he had left the country in a fix, inside and out.

Why do I mention these events? To emphasize that politicians of his kind never change. Were he to have undergone that same kind of philosophical revolution as Ariel Sharon, to wean himself of the dream of a Greater Israel, Likud would not have split up and he would be Sharon’s heir today. A year after his comeback, however, he has been revealed as a leader without an agenda, other than survival, not to go too much toward the extreme right, in order to maintain relations with the United States.

So he used a certain phrase in his speech at Bar-Ilan University about two states for two peoples, but there’s been no trace of that since. He must have seen the statistical data published last week showing that one out of every four Israelis today is Arab. In a generation or two, we will pay a very heavy price for not leaping at the opportunity offered by a strong American president like Barack Obama who wants to build a Middle East of sane people.

Bibi remembers an America where presidents could be pressured through Jewish public opinion and the Congress. At his bidding, Ron Lauder, Elie Wiesel and others volunteered to bring pressure to bear on the president through newspaper advertisements and public appearances. Bibi himself went to war in a series of interviews to U.S. television networks, saying that freezing construction in East Jerusalem was impossible. And so the issue of Jerusalem, which was supposed to wait until the end under all circumstances, was placed at the very beginning by Avigdor Lieberman, Eli Yishai and Bibi.

Bibi is deluding himself that Obama will not be reelected. But even in the three years remaining in his first term the president can impose uncomfortable sanctions on Israel – a step that should scare Israel more than Iran. Bibi has not yet grasped that what the U.S. administration wants is a change to the composition of the ruling coalition in Israel. So long as Bibi does not replace Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas with Kadima, there is no chance of moving in any direction. It was in vain that my colleague wrote him an impassioned letter asking him to show leadership. It surprises me that he was unable to see that he does not have it. Netanyahu was not a leader during his first term and he is not a leader now. He is simply not incapable of being one.

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PMO: Truth Will Become Clear in Court! In Letter To Court, Mrs. Sara Flatly Denies Mistreating Maid, While Pay Slips Show Netanyahus Paid Maid Less Than Minimum Wage. First of All, It Won’t Shake Political System.

Netanyahus paid maid less than minimum wage, pay slips show Jan 20, 2010 / By Ha’aretz
(…) Earlier, new evidence obtained by Haaretz revealed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara was skimping on payments to the couple’s household help.
Pay slips that Peretz, submitted along with her suit against Sarah Netanyahu show that her basic monthly wage ranged from NIS 2,550 to NIS 3,060.
Peretz, who had previously worked for a personnel agency, presented evidence in the lawsuit showing that her wages and benefits at the agency were considerably better than they were when she worked for the Netanyahus.
In addition to her low wage from the Netanyahus, a sum of NIS 50 to NIS 60 was deducted from her wage for national insurance. She was not paid for transportation, overtime or working on the Sabbath.
The agency paid her a basic wage of NIS 5,000, well above the minimum wage of NIS 3,850. To this, it added payment for overtime, transportation, and working on weekends. (…)

Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice): We Don’t Report This! Period Jan 15, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
Sarah Netanyahu: Lawsuit by Maid is ‘Pack of Lies’ Jan 17, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
(…) The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement backing Mrs. Netanyahu, saying she has “already won twice in the past in the place where the truth is revealed – in court. And she will win once again in that place where truth and justice is revealed.” (…)

PMO: Truth Will Become Clear in Court Jan 18, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
(IsraelNN.com) The Prime Minister’s Office responded to charges published against the Prime Minister’s wife saying, “the Prime Minister’s wife, Sarah Netanyahu, is the victim of an attack of people with political interests. They recruit former employees cynically hoping to gain publicity and money at the expense of the Netanyahus…the truth will become clear in court.”

Netanyahu aides blast maid for spreading ‘lies’ about PM’s wife Jan 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) Few political analysts saw the latest coverage having much impact on the premier’s standing, however. His second term has so far been marked by relative success in evading the global economic crisis and popular support for his resistance to Palestinian conditions for resuming peace negotiations. (…)

In letter to court, Sara Netanyahu flatly denies mistreating maid Feb 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
Sara Netanyahu calls maid’s suit ‘frivolous’ Feb 17, 2010 / By Ynetnews
In response to court, Sarah Netanyahu calls exploitation allegations “baseless.” Feb 17, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post

SOME MORE ARTICLES SHALL HAVE TO APPEAR!

(Updated on Month Date, Year)

(JIWON: What day is today? Please tell me if you ever read any updated news about this LEGAL battle.)

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Impossible to Judge Mrs. Bibi. After All, This Is the Same Sara, Who Publicly Stated That Phoenix-Bibi Is Bigger Than the State of Israel. Genuine and Honorable!

(JIWON: Please notice that these comments are from the Settlers’ Voice.)

Sarah Netanyahu: Lawsuit by Maid is ‘Pack of Lies’ Jan 17, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
Talkbacks for this article: 8
8. Were there not similar stories in the past about o’pare girls.: Were there not similar stories in the past about o’pare girls. Because of this, I am inclined to believe the maid. / David, Jerusalem (01/17/10)
7. i wonder who lillian works for ??: most primeministers wives are meglomaiacs to a degree and im sure mine would be just as bad if not worse? i believe the shabat part is true as i have heard it from other people in the past. but it is still sarahs right to deny the shabat if so wishes for that reason hashem gave us free will, “i give you the drug of life : and the drug of death : and you chose life ” / cohen, london (01/17/10)
6. Between the master and the slave, whom to believe? (n”c): / EliMaimon, (01/17/10)
5. sounds like ….: a pack of lies. The Netanyahu’s can certainly afford to pay what is due. This sounds too petty. / Vic, usa (01/17/10)
4. Respect the employer: As an employee of a any leader of any government, the employee is required to abide by certain rules which include respect and confidentiality. No employee of the Queen of England address’ her Liz, but rather Her Majesty; and so on. If you don’t carry out your duites you are dismissed. / , (01/17/10)
3. Bibi’s wife: From what I have read about this woman—I believe the maid. / Mora, Jerusalem (01/17/10)
2. Sarah Netanyahu is genuine and honorable: The same cannot be sid for her husband. / Aubrey Wulfsohn, Leamington spa (01/17/10)
1.: I can’t judge what did or did not occur behind closed doors in the Netanyahu home, but I believe this is the same Sarah Netanyahu who stated publicly that “Bibi is bigger than the State of Israel when he was in the opposition a few years ago! Megalomania anyone? / Dr. Zechariah, Jerusalem (01/17/10)

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PM Bibi to Travel Abroad. Is This Why Murdoch’s Media Remains Silent and International Media Follow It? BTW, Is This Really PM Bibi or Mr. Panic’s First Trip to Russia?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sitesearch.do?query=Netanyahu Jan 15, 2010 / By Murdoch’s British Media
Murdoch’s British Media: Do You Know Why We Don’t Report This?

(JIWON: Therefore, Netanyahu in Germany.)

Netanyahu heads to Berlin for long-awaited joint cabinet meet Jan 18, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) Netanyahu to meet with Chancellor Merkel, tour Holocaust memorial and visit the Jewish musuem in Berlin. (…) Netanyahu had been scheduled to travel to Berlin in late November, but the trip was canceled due to illness. (…) Bolstering bilateral relations as well as strengthening security, cultural and scientific relations between the two countries are some of the topics on the agenda.

When the ministers are away, opposition plays Jan 18, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
As almost a third of the government’s ministers packed their bags on Sunday for a binational cabinet meeting in Berlin, opposition leader Tzipi Livni seemed to be on a collision course with the coalition’s remaining representatives. (…) Even with the absence of a third of the cabinet ministers, the opposition still would not be able to bring down the government – 61 votes, more than the opposition holds even if all of its members are present, are required to bring down the government.

(JIWON: Therefore, Netanyahu in Russia. And Israeli voters should know what happened before and after.)

Netanyahu weighing a trip to Moscow Jan 18, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
(…) This would be Netanyahu’s first official trip to Russia since taking office last March.

Despite Netanyahu pressure, Russia defends Iran missile deal Feb 15, 2010 / By Haaretz
PM seeks Tehran sanctions; Moscow says no reason to delay sale of arms to Iran.

Russian FM to Netanyahu: ME situation “alarming.” Settlement moratorium insufficient Feb 15, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post

Eitan Haber: Oh, those Russians. Don’t count on Russian promises not to sell weapons to Iran Feb 16, 2010 / By Ynetnews
(…) The Russians, also in their previous form as the Soviet Union, were never members of the Israel fan club. (…) The fact that Israel had destroyed a significant part of Russia’s weapons, used by the Egyptians and Syrians, hurt their ego considerably yet also made them smile from ear to ear: How wonderful. More money, and more work for the hungry Russians. This is the case at this time as well. (…) Netanyahu has all the reasons in the world to be satisfied upon his return from his Russia visit: The Russians again promised him to refrain from selling the abovementioned weapons to Iran. However, we already gained plenty of experience with these Cossacks. At the end of the day, they will sell to the Iranians whatever Tehran wants. Whoever is planning to operate in Iran should take this into consideration. So welcome back from the cold countries, PM Netanyahu – as long as you don’t have any illusions.

(JIWON: By the way, is this PM Bibi’s first trip to Russia? This time, Netanyahu advertise his trip too loud.)

Putin denies secret meeting with Netanyahu Sep 9, 2009 / By Haaretz
Meridor confirms Netanyahu visited Russia this week Sep 13, 2009 / By Haaretz

Amos Harel: Netanyahu aide likely to pay price for ‘secret’ Russia trip Sep 14, 2009 / By Haaretz
Yossi Sarid: Lies about Netanyahu’s trip harm Israel’s credibility Sep 14, 2009 / By Haaretz

Yoel Marcus: On secrets, lies and panic Sep 14, 2009 / By Haaretz
Winston Churchill once said that during wartime the truth is so precious it is necessary to guard it with a wall of lies. But no one has ever said that a person who is supposed to be working toward peace has to surround the truth in a wall of lies. If Netanyahu’s trip was so secret, why did they reveal that he had traveled at all? And to whom did they reveal that he had traveled to Russia? If this is such an important secret, why has there been such anguish at the Prime Minister’s Bureau, instead of leaving the secret for the history books?
This country’s history is paved with secrets and lies that were considered justified. David Ben-Gurion declared, for example, that it wasn’t the Israel Defense Forces that had carried out the slaughter at Qibya, whereas he himself had authorized that reprisal action. No one knew about prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s flight at the end of his first term when he traveled, disguised in a black wig, to a secret meeting in Morocco. To this day it’s not clear whether Menachem Begin’s promise the Lebanon War would be restricted to 40 kilometers was the truth or a lie.
There have been various degrees of lies, both for purposes of war and for purposes of peace. When Shimon Peres was prime minister in the rotation government with Yitzhak Shamir, he secretly concocted the “London agreement” with King Hussein of Jordan. Peres pulled it out when Shamir took over as prime minister and he had the foreign affairs portfolio. Shamir, who was furious, rejected the agreement outright.
Most of the meetings with Hussein before the agreement were kept secret. At that time Rabin had no problem with flying at night in a cargo plane seated among onions and tomatoes for a meeting with Hussein in London. No one basked in these flights in newspaper headlines. As prime minister, Rabin slipped off more than once to snatched meetings with Hussein. At one of them his aide Eitan Haber was present, with a huge mobile phone, one of the earliest models. In the middle of the meeting that golem rang and the perplexed Haber heard Pe’er-Li Shahar from (the now defunct newspaper) Al Hamishmar asking, “Eitan, where are you?” “With friends,” he replied, and hastened to hang up. Things that you don’t want published don’t get published.
As Begin’s foreign minister, Moshe Dayan was on a flight to the United Nations General Assembly, accompanied by a retinue, with the aim of discussing a “working paper” for an international conference with United States president Jimmy Carter. After a stopover in Paris the plane continued to New York. Who was missing from the plane, if not Dayan? At first, they said he had come down with a cold, and then that he had flown to Romania. In fact, a Moroccan plane had been waiting for him and flew him to a meeting with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s close adviser, Hassan Tuhami, about the possibility of a treaty with Egypt. From Morocco, Dayan flew directly to Israel, to report to Begin, and then on to the UN. The importance of this secret trip was revealed in Sadat’s visit to Israel.
Our relations with France were at their zenith in the days of the Socialist government headed by Guy Mollet. Because of the shared aim of defeating the rebels in Algeria, Mollet’s France was giving us advanced weapons while the United States was dribbling limited defensive weaponry to us. At some stage Mollet suggested, and Ben-Gurion agreed, cooperation in what history remembers as a “conspiracy,” in which England and France invaded Egypt. Israel’s part was to occupy most of Sinai and theirs was ostensibly to “separate the forces.” In the space of a month, Golda Meir flew to a meeting with the French foreign minister and Ben-Gurion flew to a meeting with Mollet, and no one knew. Ben-Gurion thought the Sinai Campaign would give us the third kingdom of Israel. The entire operation was a failure when we were forced to retreat. The big lie about “our excellent relations” with Charles de Gaulle’s France was nurtured mainly by Peres. As a correspondent in Paris at that time, I was summoned for a talk with the head of the Middle East desk, who made it unambiguously clear to me that Peres was misled and was misleading others: “France has been and always will be pro-Arab.” Peres was not lying; he simply was not reading the France of that time correctly.
One day in February of 1998, I met with Ariel Sharon, then the minister of national infrastructures in Netanyahu’s government. There was fear in the air that war would break out with Iraq, which, according to the inspectors, had “a chemical substance one bag of which could destroy half of Tel Aviv.” Sharon, appalled, said to me then: “You won’t believe the panic Bibi is in. But Raful [Rafel Eitan] and I, the two old soldiers in the government, have stopped him from an international complication.” Bibi retreated and a short time later he fell from government.
A person who panics at the age of 50 is still a person who panics at the age of 60 – even when it is about peace.

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Is the $has Party Behind This Lawsuit? Issue on the Jewish Sabbath While Phoenix-Bibi’ Gave $has More Money and Accused by His Maid, an Observant Jew.

(JIWON: Weird that NONE of Meretz members comes out to support PM Netanyahu’s wife on this issue. I am very sure that Phoenix-Bibi’s maid heard this sermon and was encouraged by this Haaretz article. She just didn’t seem to know Phoenix-Bibi’s Beinisch’s Court members won’t let her go further. What a poor maid.)

Please check
From The Healthiest Opposition Should Face ‘Corrupt & Aging BIBI’… and ultimately… the Israeli Future! (Dec 24-31, 2009)
COLLECTION-08: Beinisch’s Haaretz Still Doesn’t Mention Phoenix-Bibi’s Secret-Money Deal with “$HAS” And How This Deal Made Israel Desperate. WHY?
Yossi Sarid: Shas gimme gimme Jan 15, 2010 / By Haaretz
(…) It’s not clear from the Biblical text how many daughters the proverbial leech has, but two are named – “Give” and “Give.” Maybe they are twins. There were times when Shas the bloodsucker contented itself with one “give,” showing a certain degree of restraint. (…) After the so-called Nahari law, which was intended to coordinate the transfer of funds from local authorities to ultra-Orthodox schools, PROVED TO BE A BOTTOMLESS PIT, Shas tried its luck with the “jobs law,” (…) God has again opened the mouth of the lord and teacher in his recent weekly Saturday night sermons: “Anyone who does not keep the Sabbath is a beast,” said the Jerusalemite Aesop Ovadia Yosef, who has also become famous because of his animal fables. He’s right, Ovadia, he knows our souls. The secular Israeli really is a donkey of donkeys – a domestic animal used for riding and carrying loads. And not because we don’t keep the Sabbath, but because we are still keeping $has – which the saving of human lives should have superseded long ago.

Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice): We Don’t Report This! Period Jan 15, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
Sarah Netanyahu: Lawsuit by Maid is ‘Pack of Lies’ Jan 17, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
(…) Within media circles, it is being alleged that Yediot Acharonot, the first media outlet to break the story, is somehow encouraging the lawsuit, as part of its war against Yisrael HaYom, the pro-Netanyahu daily freebie that is threatening Yediot’s position as Israel’s leading daily.
Lillian claims in her suit that Sarah Netanyahu paid her a salary that was lower than the minimum wage and did not pay her the basic social benefits. Netanyahu also allegedly forced her employee to work on the Sabbath despite the fact that she is a Sabbath-observant Jew. Lillian also claims that Netanyahu insisted the worker refer to her as “Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu.”
Also included in the court papers was the claim that Sarah Netanyahu had informed her employee, “It is a privilege to work for the Netanyahu family” and that she had no right to demand any other salary or benefits. In addition, the plaintiff claimed that Netanyahu told her, “This is my beautiful home, and I am the mother of the State of Israel.” (…)

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Fear Lives Here: Owners’ Message to Their Employees Is a Message Most of Us Women Receive Today. It Is This Treatment That Led Her to Stay Six Years With the Netanyahu Family.

00:23 Defense Min. Barak may pay a fine for employing an illegal migrant worker Jan 11, 2010 / By Haaretz Flash News

‘Housekeeper sues Sarah Netanyahu’ Jan 15, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Talkbacks for this article: 44
1. I do not understand why she stayed worked with such a monster more than one week? : I do not understand why she stayed worked with such a monster more than one week? If I were observing Shabbath I would never desecrate it… at least for salary that less than minimum wage. / na-tzipochkahh – Israel (01/15/2010 13:15)

(JIWON: Sorry about saying this. Too much is too much. Had Bibi’s employees not posted the same comments again and again, I wouldn’t have wanted to post these two different articles. Clearly, a slave can’t follow her own instruction, even if it was a paid employee in such a democratic country as Israel, where ILLEGAL migrant workers are favored. However… who knows? Israeli First Lady could be right. It may have been “an honor for her maid to work for the Netanyahu family and to be crazy about Sara, who was a friend, mother, helper, and everything to her”.)

Haaretz: We Are Ordered Not To Report This… Jan 15, 2010 / By Haaretz
Netanyahu aides blast maid for spreading ‘lies’ about PM’s wife Jan 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
Aides to Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “lies and slander” on Sunday an employment lawsuit filed by a former maid against the Israeli prime minister’s wife.
They said local media coverage, which recalled controversies over domestic staff during Netanyahu’s first term in office in the 1990s, amounted to a smear campaign. Analysts saw little immediate political impact from furor, however.
A Tel Aviv labor court confirmed that a woman who had worked for Sara Netanyahu filed suit last week against the child psychologist and former El Al flight attendant who is the prime minister’s third wife and mother of his two teenage sons.
Mass-selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth had splashed the story of the case on Friday. Rival Maariv followed up on Sunday with a broadside by its leading commentator, declaring the prime minister unfit to lead the nation due to his wife’s behavior.
In response, an official in the prime minister’s bureau read a statement saying the former housekeeper’s suit was laden with “lies and slander”, while Israeli media were engaging, he said, in a “tendentious campaign lacking any journalistic ethics”.
“In total contrast to what is written in the lawsuit, the plaintiff Lillian received warm and affectionate treatment from Mrs. Netanyahu. It is this treatment that led her to stay six years with the Netanyahu family,” the statement continued.
David Shimron, an attorney for Sara Netanyahu, said on Friday the complaints “bear not a single element of truth”.
Citing court documents, Yedioth said Lillian Peretz sought compensation for underpayment from Sara Netanyahu. She also alleged she had “humiliated” her, occasionally shouting and insisting she change clothes during the working day to meet exacting demands for hygiene around the Netanyahu household.
The 51-year-old, whose husband returned a year ago to the prime minister’s office, is no stranger to controversy. She stood by Netanyahu, 60, when he confessed on television to an extramarital affair during a party leadership campaign in 1993.
Later, when in office, Netanyahu defended his wife during a cascade of media stories alleging she was high-handed with staff and set unusually strict rules on cleanliness around the home. Some also complained about her role in her husband’s office.
Few political analysts saw the latest coverage having much impact on the premier’s standing, however. His second term has so far been marked by relative success in evading the global economic crisis and popular support for his resistance to Palestinian conditions for resuming peace negotiations.
“For now, I don’t think this is going to have strong implications,” said Israeli pollster Rafi Smith. “To say it will shake the political system is going too far.”

Merav Michaeli: Fear lives here Jan 18, 2010 / By Haaretz
Two weeks ago I wrote a column here about the shocking discrepancy between the pitiful salaries the Super-Sol supermarket chain pays workers who stock shelves, most of them women, and the huge profits the company, meaning the company’s owners, earn from those employees. I received ideological support in many sympathetic reactions from family and friends, especially expressions of strong identification with the employees. What does this identification really mean? Truth be told, most of the women I associate with don’t stock supermarket shelves.
The answer is that the owners’ message to their employees – that they are just tools, a means to accomplish an end, that they are replaceable and faceless – is a message most of us women receive today, no matter where we work and almost regardless of our salaries.
In addition, men and women who are considered high wage earners, at three or four times minimum wage, who are thought of as middle class and bourgeois, find themselves financially insecure. Most of us don’t have job tenure, and there is no certainty that quality work, loyalty to the workplace, experience and seniority will generate a commitment from the owners to provide proper employment conditions.
In a certain respect, the opposite is true. Seniority is an indication that a woman is up in years and not attractive. Loyalty means you’re taken for granted, and good work is not a sufficient reason to pay you more. It’s more important today for the boss to pay less and become “more efficient.” Most Israelis today, even if they are not in poverty, without denying the huge and constantly increasing number of poor, fear for their livelihoods. There is no certainty that we will be able to make a living from our work in a reasonable manner. There are two separate factors: First, that we have work, and second, that we can sufficiently support ourselves from it.
We can no longer use expressions that were common in Hebrew such as “all work honors those who perform it” and “to earn a respectable living.” In an era when we are at the mercy of the bosses, we receive no respect from them and no work can honor us. Each day we are shown that declarations such as “hard work and education are the key to escaping the cycle of poverty” are nothing more than false propaganda. Most poor women in Israel are employed, and even people with a solid education are not assured a job or livelihood.
Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher said: “Economics are the method; the object is to change the soul.” She also said: “There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women.” Over many years, we have witnessed privatization, the dismantling of unions and the Histadrut labor federation, the transformation of employees into outsourced workers, the exploitation of foreign men and women laborers, the embrace of neoliberal standards and the habits of the wealthy. We find ourselves in a situation in which the doctrine of divide and conquer works; it works very well indeed.
Our politicians and “leaders” exploit our economic insecurity for their own needs.
Israel is stronger than ever militarily. No existential security dangers really hover over the country. Still, they continually frighten us over Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and the Palestinians. They deflect onto external enemies our justifiable existential fear from the knowledge that it is not certain we will earn a livelihood.
And it works. We’re afraid. Afraid to protest. Afraid to organize, unionize and rebel. We’re afraid to stand up for our right to live, work and exist in dignity. And as long as we remain afraid like this, the existential danger hovering over each Israeli woman and the State of Israel itself grows ever larger.

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Even the Bibiton, aka Beinisch’s Haaretz Starts Speaking. Is the Chairman of ‘Israel Media Watch’ a Settler, too?

(JIWON: I feel funny when the Jerusalem Post suddenly treats itself as Something-Above and looks down THREE Israeli newspapers, including its mentor Adelson’s Freebie-Bibiton. Or… is this how this media is deliberating echoing Adelson’s Freebie-Bibiton? I can’t help suspecting, since I know what an important issue this is when Mrs. Netanyahu comes into the Israeli Politics.)

Adelson’s Israeli Newspaper at Center of Political Battle Dec 29, 2009 / By Jewish Daily Forward
(…) Besides Yisrael Hayom, Israel has only three other Hebrew dailies: Maariv, Yediot and Haaretz. And although Maariv is not expected to survive much longer, Yediot remains a powerful economic empire. For Haaretz, the emergence of Yisrael Hayom has actually provided a boost in the form of significant printing revenues: Adelson’s newspaper is printed on Haaretz’s press. (…)

Two Winners of ‘Media Criticism’ Prize Jan 17, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
(…) On Sunday, the second winner of the IMW Media Criticism Prize was announced: Amos Regev, editor of the free daily newspaper, Israel’s second largest newspaper, Yisrael HaYom (Israel Today). The paper has “caused a revolution in the map of Israeli print media, providing a platform for different opinions,” Israel Media Watch says.
Regev’s newspaper “unites a wide and balanced range of the best journalists and commentators,” IMW states, “and provides the broad public with a true alternative to the near-monopoly that has controlled the press up to now.”
Yisrael HaYom’s rapid growth has prompted opponents to urge legislation to block its growth. The newspaper has already overtaken Maariv as the country’s second-most widely read newspaper, and it is now threatening Yediot Acharonot as well. The last survey on newspaper readership, taken by the TGI Institute for the first half of 2009, shows Yediot with 34.2% exposure, followed by Yisrael HaYom with 26.9%. Trailing behind are Maariv (14.4%) and Haaretz (7.5%). Distributed free on buses, busy intersections, places of work, residences, and elsewhere, 250,000 copies of Yisrael HaYom are published five days a week, and the paper recently began a weekend edition as well.
Yediot and Maariv are behind a drive to “safeguard Israel’s democracy by preventing a foreign national from controlling its print media, and to prevent the print media market from financial collapse,” and several MKs are convinced that legislation to this effect is necessary. Publisher Sheldon Adelson of the United States is said to be a friend of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and his newspaper is considered by critics to be pro-Netanyahu. Maariv, Yediot and Haaretz generally have an anti-Netanyahu tilt.

(JIWON: What is the exact identity of the Israel Media Watch? To my surprise, quite a information are found on the internet. Is Prof. Pollak of ‘Israel Media Watch’ a Settler, too?)

MEDIA COMMENT: MEA CULPA FROM “HA’ARETZ”? Dec 29, 2003 / By Eli Pollak (Chairman of Israel Media Watch) and Yisrael Medad
Perhaps the most influential Hebrew newspaper is Ha’aretz. It thinks of itself as the Israeli equivalent to the New York Times or the Swiss Neue Zuericher Zeitung. It sells itself as the “newspaper for thinking people.”
More than once, its headlines have directly influenced government activities. Only recently, Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had to retract UN Ambassador Yehuda Lankry’s declaration to the United Nations that Israel recognizes the need for a two-state solution in the Middle East.
But during the past year, Ha’aretz’s image was tarnished. A study by Ran Farhi, Tomer Tidhar and Eli Pollak of Israel’s Media Watch, on the coverage of populations afflicted by the “terror war” in Ha’aretz’s weekly supplement during October 2000 through December 2001, uncovered a severe professional failing of the magazine’s reporters and editors. The coverage of events in the Ha’aretz supplement was biased. The supplement ignored the difficulties of the Jewish settlers in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and gave exhaustive treatment to the troubles of the Palestinian population (92% of the articles deal with the Palestinian population, most of them written by Gideon Levy). (…) Levy’s articles, taken separately, did not meet certain basic professional requirements. (…) The moral of the story is that public media criticism sometimes works. The publishers of Ha’aretz demonstrated a rare sensitivity to the public. Is it too much to ask of other media organs in Israel to show similar trends?

(JIWON: Therefore, this is Today’s Haaretz and Jerusalem Post.)

Haaretz: We Are Ordered Not To Report This… Jan 15, 2010 / By Haaretz
Amir Oren: Behind every leader Jan 18, 2010
Is Sara Netanyahu a private individual or a public figure? What is the report in Yedioth Ahronoth, which got top play, on the civil suit filed against her by former housekeeper Lillian Peretz: a business story, a media story or a political story?
Nearly every politician has some sort of skeleton in their closet. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has Sheldon. The free daily Israel Hayom, owned by American Sheldon Adelson, one of the tycoons backing Netanyahu, is threatening the newspaper that calls itself the “nation’s daily,” Yedioth opened a front against the prime minister in response.
Netanyahu was startled, as he normally is, and this time perhaps justifiably so. Even Yedioth, which failed in the defense of Ehud Olmert and Haim Ramon, might succeed in an offensive.
Peretz’s claims have been countered by Sara’s denials but backed by a letter of resignation which looks like it was taken from the archives of former president Moshe Katsav: Where in all of Israel is there another housekeeper who resigns with a lovingly written letter?
It may be that Peretz is a gifted author of fiction, the J.K. Rowling of the Hadera-Caesarea region, who recounts embarrassing descriptions of Sara by recycling depositions presented in court during the earlier case of the contract workers of the mover Avner Amadi, who was involved in a corruption case against the prime minister in 1999.
The stories of female soldiers in the military secretariat of Netanyahu, told to their parents, on the attitude the “lady” had toward them during her visits to her husband’s office, are mostly character statements.
But in the families of leaders, from India to Texas, that are also inclined toward dynasty building, the boundary between a gossip column and front page news depends on the context.
The attitude of Bushra Assad, sister of President Bashar Assad, and wife of former intelligence chief Assif Shawkhat, is of interest to intelligence services in the West. Everything, and everyone who influences the decisions of a leader are strategically significant. It is essential to know what influences a leader operates under.
In critical times the seriousness of the depression and lack of attention of former prime minister Menachem Begin during crucial discussions – from the bombing of the reactor in Iraq to the war in Lebanon – were covered.
If there is talk about a decision to go to war with Iran within the Netanyahu government, it will be a soul-wrenching issue, and not only from a spiritual sense. Had former prime minister Golda Meir or opposition leader Tzipi Livni been prime minister and married to an odd figure like Guma Aguiar, the Beitar Jerusalem financier who was recently committed to a mental health hospital, this would have certainly been a matter for the public to know.
An outburst by the spouse of the prime minister may result in an accidental pressing of the red button. The Shin Bet, when asked, refused to say if the protection of the prime minister includes such potential threats.
The one who has insisted on nationalizing Sara Netanyahu, and to granting her official status, is her partner in Netanyahu Ltd., whose existence was exposed in the Peretz suit.
Using the Prime Minister’s Bureau to battle the suit is an unacceptable use of a public asset; Sarah should have hired a spokesman, like Olmert did when he ran into the law. Benjamin Netanyahu has always had trouble distinguishing between the issues of the two in their marriage.
Once, at a beachfront hotel in Tel Aviv, he included in a discussion of state business the following surprising question: “Do you know my wife’s IQ?”, to which he quickly answered: “155!”
For all his cavalier attitude, Benjamin Netanyahu is first a politician in his thinking, analyzing the forces behind the attack. He may find Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a declared enemy of Edelson and his paper, in alliance with his attackers.
Cases linked to Netanyahu which have been dormant for the past two years, may reawaken. The danger is not over his spotless home in Caesarea, but over in the Prime Minister’s Bureau in Jerusalem.

Ofra Edelman: PM’s office denies claims that Sara Netanyahu abused housekeeper Jan 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has denied allegations filed against the premier’s wife by a former housekeeper who says Sara Netanyahu treated her unfairly when she worked at the couple’s Caesarea home.
The suit, filed last week by Lillian Peretz, 43, seeks NIS 300,000 in compensation including alleged unpaid wages and severance pay. Peretz also claims that social benefits were not paid on her net salary, which ranged between NIS 2,500 and NIS 3,800 per month.
Peretz’s lawsuit states that Mrs. Netanyahu “like in the story of Cinderella, burdened [Peretz] with impossible tasks … and screamed at her.” The complaint also says that from the time Netanyahu was elected prime minister, Peretz was forbidden to call Mrs. Netanyahu by her first name.
The complaint says Mrs. Netanyahu demanded that the housekeeper return to the couple’s home on the eve of Passover to do the family’s laundry, and Mrs. Netanyahu refused to pay additional compensation. She allegedly said that “it was an honor to work for the Netanyahu family.”
The suit also alleges that Peretz was barred from using the house’s water cooler and had to bring food from home. She was also prohibited from wearing makeup so that it would not soil Mrs. Netanyahu’s linens and clothing, the suit says.
It alleges that the housekeeper was brought to tears almost every day. Peretz said that when she tried to quit, senior political figures dissuaded her and made her sign a commitment to pay a $50,000 fine if she violated the deal.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office, in denying the claims, cited Peretz’s September 2008 resignation letter in which she said she was quitting “with a lot of love and appreciation.”
The Prime Minister’s Bureau said the Web site Ynet quoted Peretz as saying in the presence of one of the Netanyahus that “I’m crazy about Sara. I don’t have girlfriends and she is a friend, mother and helper. She is everything to me. She is an amazing person.”

Skewed priorities Jan 17, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Talkbacks for this article: 1
1. In Israel one never knows, my dear Jerusalem Post: How come no one in the media asked Ehud Barak’s maid what it is like to work for him? In this case, Lillian would not have to worry, since Barak only hires illegal immigrants. One wonders how well he pays. On the other hand, had she been hired by Haim Ramon or Moshe Katsav, well, the cat is already out of the bag on those two. At least Sarah is not Winnie Mandela. Both may be or have been the mother of their countries, but in Mandela’s case a young boy was found murdered in her home. / Boris – Canada (01/18/2010 01:48)
Skewed priorities Jan 17, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Two apparently tumultuous events shook the world last week. One, an earthquake in Haiti that left up to 200,000 dead; the other, a lawsuit filed by a former housemaid of Israel’s first lady, Sara Netanyahu. One caused suffering on a scale that is hard to comprehend; the other revealed accusations of hauteur and pretense – such as Mrs. Netanyahu allegedly forcing her accuser to flatter her, and to wear a different set of clothes for each chore.
Despite the enormity of the one event and the relative triviality of the other, they were afforded almost equal space above the fold by Israel’s main circulation daily, Yediot Aharonot, on Friday. Not to be outdone, Ma’ariv, once Yediot’s main rival, followed up Sunday with a front page item of its own on the Sara Netanyahu affair and four pages of coverage inside.
Yisrael Hayom, the upstart usurper in the tabloid ratings race, which has overtaken Ma’ariv and is challenging Yediot, left the issue untouched, but for an editorial asking: “Why the obsession with Sara Netanyahu?” Yisrael Hayom’s bashfulness, however, was not necessarily born of more elevated news values; it has long been accused by its adversaries of steering clear of most any topic that might generate negative publicity about the prime minister.
THE UNDERTONE to all three papers’ approach touches on the bitter circulation war between the old guard tabloid duo and the freesheet newcomer, with the titles seeking to denigrate and marginalize each other as they struggle for market share.
This battle, in turn, is part of the wider challenges facing the entire newspaper industry – falling circulation as readers turn to the Internet, a collapsing profit model and dwindling public esteem. At a time when the very institute of journalism is under threat and the Fourth Estate calls out for deliverance, the pettiness and skewed news values born of circulation battles and partisan rivalries is particularly ill-afforded.
Skewed prioritizing in the Hebrew print media – born of the desire for a scoop, any scoop, to steal a march on a rival – is not new, unfortunately. Only a day after Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections four years ago, for instance, the Hebrew tabloids had marginalized a story that would long affect every Israeli in favor of insignificant “scoops” such as sneaking a reporter into a judge’s chambers, where genuine news value was small but exclusivity was deemed paramount.
And the affliction is not limited to the print media. Ratings battles between the country’s celebrity-culture-obsessed, corporate-serving TV stations mean that one or the other frequently opens its main nightly news broadcast with a story of paltry significance, even on days of momentous events, purely because it has an item its competitors have missed.
Privately, some of the more experienced correspondents in the TV news business are now often heard to complain they are not given enough screen time to tell Israelis about trends and developments that really matter.
INSTEAD OF print media blaming the rise of the Internet for its troubles, or for that matter looking to the Internet for its salvation, it would do well to refocus on its traditional core qualities of independence, accuracy, fairness, transparency and professional responsibility.
Only by returning to correctly prioritized, balanced and in-depth reporting, and by providing information that readers need and can rely upon, can newspapers, on whatever medium they may be served, compete with television and the worst excesses in all areas of the media of celebrity reporters masquerading as journalists.
It is by digging out the truth on matters of consequence that newspapers can secure their future, and not by pandering to a perceived public penchant for sensationalism or by pursuing private agendas.
All that is not to say that our politicians and their partners, whose privileges derive from their powers, should not be held to exacting moral standards. Too often of late, our lawmakers and civil servants have perverted their prerogatives.
But while the accusations leveled at Mrs. Netanyahu by Lillian Peretz, if they are substantiated, constitute more than a mere peccadillo, a sense of proportion is called for.
At a time when other items in the news have included, apart from the Haiti quake, the attempted assassination of Israel’s envoy to Jordan, and the arrest of a sadistic cult leader who allegedly enslaved and abused 17 women and dozens of minors, the disproportionate focus on the case of the housemaid points to a lost understanding of journalistic obligation.

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Whether the Lawsuit by Maid a ‘Pack of Lies’ or a ‘Media-Orchestrated Political Conspiracy’ or ‘Simply-Truth’, It Will Become Political. Accused, Not Convicted, Though.

Murdoch’s British Media: Do You Know Why We Don’t Report This? Jan 15, 2010 / By Murdoch’s British Media

Haaretz: We Are Ordered Not To Report This… Jan 15, 2010 / By Haaretz
Netanyahu aides blast maid for spreading ‘lies’ about PM’s wife Jan 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
Talkbacks for this article: 8
1. He should resign: 19:38 | Danny Negedat
2. Is it true that where there is Smoke there is FIRE.: 20:10 | Mark
3. Well, the truth is that Sara has been plagued with unruly minions: 20:29 | Esther
4. Accused, not convicted.: 22:02 | Mea
5. Non issue: 22:27 | Dave
6. Putting the cart before the horse: 22:33 | P
7. Get more of the same because of lack of electoral reform: 22:46 | not secular
8. are newspapers Judges??: 22:47 | Vogel

PM’s office denies claims that Sara Netanyahu abused housekeeper Jan 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
Talkbacks for this article: 7
1. Sara Netanyaku and Bibi: 03:53 | John Spear
2. Sounds like the poor housekeeper was…: 04:33 | Maureen Ann
3. Repeat performance?: 08:20 | Palestinian Brit
4. Now who would you believe the poor maid or the primadonna?: 08:28 | what me? no you!
5. Sara is well known for this: 10:32 | leven5
6. Sara and the Housekeeper: 11:29 | Irene
7. Ow again start stupid stories and claims about PM: 12:06 | rafiq

Ofra Edelman: Ex-aide to Sara Netanyahu: I also suffered verbal abuse Jan 17, 2010 / By Haaretz
The former housekeeper at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, who filed a lawsuit for mistreatment last week against the prime minister’s wife, Sara, received backing yesterday from a former secretary to Sara Netanyahu.
Speaking on Army Radio, Naomi Igos, who worked for the first lady during Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister in the 1990s, said “Sara Netanyahu is an employer who violates the law in every way possible.”
Igos said reading about the suit filed by the housekeeper at the Netanyahu’s Caesarea home, Lillian Peretz, brought back the memory of trauma that Igos said she herself suffered while working for Sara Netanyahu.
“When I read the report on Friday [about Peretz's suit], it took me back 12 years,” she said. “The whole way in which [Mrs. Netanyahu] behaved, the yelling, the wild behavior, the phone calls at night – [and even though I am] a religious person, I was supposed to be available by phone on Shabbat.”
The housekeeper is suing Netanyahu for NIS 300,000 in compensation, including alleged unpaid wages and severance pay, but she also claims that Sara Netanyahu burdened her with impossible tasks, screamed at her and forbade Peretz from calling her by her first name.
Peretz claimed that the job brought her to tears almost every day.
“If I [was] yelled at six times a day, her communications adviser gets it three times a day, then the prime minister gets it once,” Igos said.
The Prime Minister’s Office has denied the allegations. Channel 2 television broadcast a reaction yesterday from a source close to Sara Netanyahu, who said: “Lillian [Peretz] was employed continuously for six years straight and for most of the time maintained a house that was totally empty, without any contact with the Netanyahu family.”
The source denied explicitly that Peretz was barred from calling Sara Netanyahu by her first name, saying that she used terms of endearment, such as “kapara” (the Hebrew equivalent of “darling”) in addressing the prime minister’s wife.
The sources said the housekeeper developed a strong and even extreme emotional attachment to Mrs. Netanyahu.

Netanyahu blames political enemies for story on wife Jan 18, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Talkbacks for this article: ZERO!!!
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s political foes were behind Friday’s story in Yediot Aharonot about a lawsuit that his family’s former housekeeper filed against his wife, Sara, sources close to Netanyahu said on Sunday.
The story about Lillian Peretz’s NIS 374,359 lawsuit in the Tel Aviv Labor Court embarrassed the prime minister and put Sara back in the spotlight, where she often was during Netanyahu’s first term in office.
Netanyahu’s associates pointed fingers at unnamed people who want to bring down the prime minister.
“Sara Netanyahu became a victim of political and economic interests who allowed target practice on her and will try again to find former employees and fake stories to hurt her,” a source very close to Netanyahu said. “The story is so delusional and crazy that we must consider who could be behind it. There are people who have an interest in such reports for political reasons, to hurt the prime minister.”
The Netanyahus’ lawyer, David Shimron, and former Likud strategist Ronnie Rimon, also made such accusations in multiple interviews. Rimon said that people who failed to find anything that could damage Netanyahu targeted his wife out of desperation.
“I thought that what happened before, when certain sectors of the population didn’t accept Netanyahu, wouldn’t happen again,” Rimon said. “If people have a problem with the prime minister, they should criticize the prime minister.”
Kadima officials responded that “Netanyahu and his people should face the real problems the story revealed and not deal with minutia about how the story got out. Where there is smoke, there is fire and where there is Bibi there is paranoia.”
Netanyahu’s associates also blamed the story on the ongoing battle between Yediot and Yisrael Hayom, the free daily that favors the prime minister.
Peretz told reporters outside her home in Hadera that she stands by her accusations. She denied that she had any connection to Kadima or any other political foe of the prime minister.
“The truth will come to light,” she promised. “Nothing political is behind this.”
Channel 2 reported on Sunday night that the Netanyahus did not pay Peretz for her transportation costs to their home in Caesarea from her’s in Hadera. They also did not pay her for working on Shabbat.
Peretz told Yediot that her relationship with Sara involved constant humiliation and an overall hostile atmosphere. According to the paper’s report on the lawsuit, Netanyahu expected Lillian to be on call 24 hours a day, and once even phoned her at 2 a.m. to reprimand her for failing to properly cover a pillow.
She also charged that Sara forced her other employees to call her “Mrs. Sara Netanyahu” and would often boast that she had a beautiful home, telling her housekeeping staff how lucky they were to be working for the Netanyahu family and saying she was the “mother of the State of Israel.”
Sara Netanyahu’s former assistant Naomi Egoose told Channel 2 that she endured similar abuse from her 12 years ago and she was still traumatized by it.
“I had hoped that 12 years would do something for Sara Netanyahu, but when I read the article, I saw that she hadn’t changed,” Egoose said.
“If she screamed at me six times a day and at Netanyahu’s media adviser six times a day, she must scream at the prime minister at least once a day. I have nothing against the prime minister. I just believe he has to put her in her place.”

PMO comes out swinging to defend Sara Netanyahu Jan 17, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Talkbacks for this article: ZERO!!!
(…) The Prime Minister’s Office said that unfortunately the article was part of a “tendentious media campaign lacking any journalistic ethics,” and said that not only did the paper not ask the Prime Minister’s Office for a response, but that the Netanyahus had not yet received a copy of the lawsuit.
The plaintiff’s lawyers, the statement said, went directly to the press.
Netanyahu, according to the statement, has twice won lawsuits she was involved in, once in a similar case involving a disgruntled worker, and another in a libel case against a local paper.

PM Netanyahu aides blast maid’s ‘lies’ about wife Jan 17, 2010 / By Ynetnews
(…) Associates slam media coverage of employment lawsuit filed by former maid against PM’s wife. Pollster: It won’t shake political system (…)
Talkbacks for this article: 4
1. Was the maid forced to work on Shabbat? That will reveal all: / Bunnie Meyer, Los Angeles, CA USA (01.17.10)
2. I think this is ugly political gossiping.: Well, everyone reap what they sow. Netanyahu was not nice with Feiglin nor with Livni…. / Keren , IL-BR (01.17.10)
3. So, first she is worked to death as a slave,: and now she is being blasted by the Prime Minister’s powerful aides preempting the legal system. Why don’t they shut the F. up and allow the legal system to take its course, instead of intimidating a poor helpless woman. / Marco, Spain (01.17.10)
4. Methinks the aides doth protest too too much…: / BBSNews, Charlotte, NC (01.18.10) bbsnews@gmail.com

Ex-housekeeper alleges abuse by Israeli PM’s wife Jan 17, 2010 / By Washington Post, ARON HELLER
JERUSALEM — A former housekeeper has filed a lawsuit accusing the Israeli prime minister’s wife of abusing her in the first scandal to hit Benjamin Netanyahu’s year-old administration, bringing memories of the domestic distractions that clouded his tumultuous first term in office a decade ago.
Lillian Peretz, who worked as the Netanyahu family housekeeper in their beachside home in the town of Caesaria for six years, claims Sara Netanyahu verbally abused her and forced her to change clothes and shower several times a day to keep a “sterile” environment. It also alleges she was paid less than minimum wage and forced to work on the Jewish Sabbath even though she is an observant Jew.
The prime minister’s office called the lawsuit “false and full of lies and defamation” in a statement Sunday alleging the housekeeper was part of a media-orchestrated political conspiracy.
Peretz is asking for about $80,000 in the lawsuit filed last week and publicized on Friday in the Yediot Ahronot daily.
Sara Netanyahu, a former flight attendant who is now a practicing psychologist, also stirred during her husband’s first term as prime minister from 1996 to 1999. She came under fire several times for squabbling with her staff, flaunting her young children IN PUBLIC AND MEDDLING IN STATE AFFAIRS. Among the scandals, she was accused of firing a nanny for burning a pot of soup and of throwing a pair of shoes at an assistant.
But Netanyahu’s third wife has kept a low profile since her husband’s return to power last March. She rarely generates headlines and the couple has enjoyed favorable public approval ratings. The couple has two children.
Netanyahu has said he learned important lessons from his first go-around as prime minister. He has kept a tight lid on leaks and members of his staff and Cabinet have avoided the financial and ethical missteps that have tarnished his predecessors.
But the current scandal threatens to reopen old wounds.
According to the lawsuit, Sara Netanyahu “like in the story of Cinderella, burdened her (Peretz) with impossible chores, tyrannized her and screamed to the point of terror.”
The lawsuit alleges that Peretz was not allowed to drink the family’s bottled water, only tap water.
The Netanyahus dismissed the allegations, saying that Peretz received warm and loving treatment in their home. They produced pictures of the two women embracing, a copy of Peretz’s LETTER OR RESIGNATION SIGNED “with lots of love and appreciation,” and a newspaper clipping of Peretz expressing her love for Sara Netanyahu.
David Shimron, a lawyer for the Netanyahus, told Israel’s Army Radio that Sara Netanyahu has a great deal of empathy for Peretz, “and a degree of pity for her because she is being taken advantage by a certain media outlet.”
He appeared to be referring to Yediot, which is in a bitter circulation war with an upstart newspaper that is strongly supportive of Netanyahu.
Sunday’s newspapers were filled with reports on the scandal, trailing only the coverage of the catastrophe in Haiti. Radio shows hosted accounts of former employees telling similar tales.
“As a psychologist, she needs to know how to behave to human beings, and she doesn’t,” Naomi Igos, who worked as Sara Netanyahu’s secretary in the 1990s, told Army Radio. “Sara Netanyahu is an employer who breaks the law in every possible way … the yelling, the losing control, the calls in the middle of the night.”
The report sparked heated debate on whether the domestic distraction would affect the conduct of the prime minister. One prominent columnist, Ben Caspit, went so far as to say that Netanyahu is “unfit” for the job.
“The fact that he permits that problematic woman to decide, to appoint, to fire, to upset, to dictate and to apply pressure on organizations in their entirety renders him unfit,” he wrote in the Maariv daily.

POSTSCRIPT – (Updated on JANUARY 20, 2010)

Aluf Benn: Bibi, wake up! Jan 20, 2010 / By haaretz
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a significant brouhaha over the housekeeper his wife employed. First, there’s the image issue: The suit filed by Lillian Peretz and the furious response from the Prime Minister’s Bureau have destroyed the “New Bibi” brand that Netanyahu built up so carefully on the road to his political comeback. The media’s preoccupation with Sara Netanyahu’s behavior, and her husband’s countercharges about media persecution, marked the epitome of the “Old Bibi” – from his last term as premier.
And indeed, the negative stereotypes are returning: mistreatment of employees, attempted cover-ups, stinginess, hurting the poor. Regardless of whether such allegations are accurate or exaggerated, they tend to stick, even if the courts later throw out the lawsuits.
It doesn’t matter whether Peretz called her employer “Mrs. Netanyahu” or “darling” or whatever else. Nor does it matter whether the story was played up by Yedioth Ahronoth as a result of its battle with rival daily Israel Hayom. The problem is the content. This is not a story about the Iranian threat, a complex diplomatic formula or the 90 articles in the intended reform of the Planning and Building Law. This is about the relationship between the master of the house and his housekeeper. And it’s a situation that is familiar to and easily understood by everyone.
The preoccupation with Peretz signifies the end of the calm Netanyahu has enjoyed since returning to power. Nine months went by pleasantly without him having to make a single fateful decision that would have an effect on reality or lead the state in a new direction, but also naturally entail political conflict. Cabinet meetings have been confined to lengthy announcements about reforms and legislative amendments, but when and if they will ever be passed remains unclear. The public is also apathetic to the prime minister’s vision of Israel becoming an economic superpower and developing an alternative to oil.
Netanyahu’s adoption of the “two states for two peoples” slogan was an act of political genius that precisely met the public’s expectations, positioned him in the political center and neutralized opposition leader Tzipi Livni. But since then, nothing has happened. The freeze on settlement construction changed nothing for most Israelis, while the foot-dragging in securing the release of Gilad Shalit has simply continued.
Netanyahu is simply waiting. Waiting for Barack Obama, waiting for Mahmoud Abbas, waiting for “the fateful decision on Iran.” The overdose of anticipation is blurring his message to the point where it’s unclear why he worked so hard to return to power.
American author Daniel Pink proposes summarizing every leader in a single sentence. Were we to reproduce this model in Israel, we could describe David Ben-Gurion as “the father of his country.” Menachem Begin would be the man of contradictions: He returned the Sinai to Egypt for peace, yet also built 100 settlements in the West Bank, bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor and invaded Lebanon. Yitzhak Rabin would be “the warrior for peace who was murdered in office.” Ehud Olmert became embroiled in a failed war, drafted a peace proposal that was rejected and had to resign due to allegations of corruption. That is not exactly how he wanted to be remembered. Ehud Barak began as “the warrior hero, the genius who would save the country,” then became “the sucker who offered everything to Yasser Arafat and got the intifada in exchange,” and is now “the essential expert heading the Defense Ministry, with problematic personal behavior.”
And Netanyahu? He has also developed over time – from the “public relations star of American television” to “leader of the struggle against the Oslo Accords” to “the divisive prime minister who fought the elites and lost.” As finance minister, he was seen as a determined reformer who fought the strong unions and banks, but also destroyed the welfare state and hurt the poor.
But what does Benjamin Netanyahu represent in 2010? The polls say he is admired as a “strong leader,” and he markets himself as a Jewish patriot trying to advance peace while preserving national assets. But with his lack of action, he could be summed up in this way: “A hesitant politician trying to please everyone in order to survive.”
In the absence of any initiative or significant action, Netanyahu’s agenda has been devoted to trivialities. Israel’s foreign relations have shrunk to an idiotic rebuke of the Turkish ambassador, while management of the country has shrunk to the management of Bibi and Sara’s household. This is precisely what happened to Ariel Sharon, who was drowning in scandals and investigations – that is, until he announced the disengagement from Gaza and once again took command. Netanyahu is becoming mired in similar distress: The headlines about his state visit to Germany dealt with his housekeeper.
Only a display of leadership, of seizing initiative, can extricate the prime minister from this corner. If he continues sitting on the fence, the minor incidents will accumulate and the big decisions will slip away. The “housekeeper scandal” gives him an opportunity to reboot his second chance in office. Peretz may yet wind up being more effective than Obama in finally getting Netanyahu to move.

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Lawsuit a Smear Job. Hope There Be a Countersuit.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/tags/index.jhtml?tag=Sara+Netanyahu Jan 15, 2010 / By Haaretz
Haaretz: We Are Ordered Not To Report This…

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Search.aspx?q=Sara+Netanyahu Jan 15, 2010 / By Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice)
Arutz Sheva (Settlers’ Voice): We Don’t Report This! Period.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sitesearch.do?query=Netanyahu Jan 15, 2010 / By Murdoch’s British Media
Murdoch’s British Media: Do You Know Why We Don’t Report This?

Housekeeper sues Israel PM Netanyahu’s wife Jan 15, 2010 / By BBC News
‘Housekeeper sues Sarah Netanyahu’ Jan 15, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
Talkbacks for this article: 44
1. I do not understand why she stayed worked with such a monster more than one week? : I do not understand why she stayed worked with such a monster more than one week? If I were observing Shabbath I would never desecrate it… at least for salary that less than minimum wage. / na-tzipochkahh – Israel (01/15/2010 13:15)
2. A new first: Now that the government and everyone knows that she was a paid housekeeper, perhaps Mas Hachnasah will now prosecute her for not paying taxes on her earnings, regardless of how “low” they may have been. Also, a paid housekeeper, cleaning woman and metapalet generally get an hourly rate far higher than minimum wage. So now she wants more. Just one question – if she was so humiliated, why didn’t she simply quit? / Saba Pete – israel (01/15/2010 14:15)
3. So why did she stay? : Why on earth did she stay on if she didn’t like her employer? The only offense which might stick regards the minimum wage–and she’ll have to prove that. This, especially with the ridiculous amount she’s seeking, reeks more of someone taking occasion in order to vilify someone she knows many will already be biased against in order to make a killing. / Tal Sharvis – (01/15/2010 14:26)
4. No one can force someone to work on Shabbat: if they are shomer Shabbat. Sure this woman may have been mistreated but is a lawsuit the way to resolve one’s problems always? Yes Mrs. Netanyahu might be a pain to work for but this housekeeper could have done one thing right away – quit. To slander the Primeminister’s wife and create a political scandal sounds like she’s just out for money. She may have been treated horribly but there are other ways to resolve things. Maybe she’s tried them but she worked for them for 6 years!!! If she really had a problem with them, she could have left before. This woman sounds like she’s out for money. / Jane – UK (01/15/2010 14:29)
5. Slander – how much was this housekeeper paid to file this lawsuit? : And how much did she make from the reporters for selling her story? Perhaps this housekeepers was paid off $$$$. Maybe she was mistreated but she worked for them for 6 years. If Mrs. Netanyahu was a nightmare – she could have left! / Joe – USA (01/15/2010 14:30)
6. She worked for them for 6 years! : If there was really a problem she could have left. Why she’s filing this lawsuit now sounds like the motive is $$$ from a political scandal. / Jeff – USA (01/15/2010 14:31)
7. Housekeeper if life was so bad why did you wait 6 years to complain. I guess you want to black mail the PM and discredit Israel. : Israel is a democracy and there are many jobs are available no one forced you to stay and work for PM. / Anton – (01/15/2010 14:45)
8. Not the first time this has happened. : I remember a few years ago “Mrs Sarah Netanyahu” (take a deep breath) had the same problem with a former South African Jewess who worked as her maid. What is this world coming to? You just cannot get decent help nowadays. They don’t want to work on Shabat? How dare they obey Hashem more than self-proclaimed “mother of Israel”. What labour law in Israel prohibits the “mother of Israel” to wake up her slaves at 2am because her pillow is not covered properly? This is pathetic. What will they have to do next? Wipe her highness’ royal behind when she needs to go to the toilet? Oy vey!!!! / Martin – South Africa (01/15/2010 15:28)
9. Sad: She obviously had a spat with Mrs. N and is getting revenge through the press. This is wasting the courts time and money – she is looking for easy money for her 4 kids. / David – USA (01/15/2010 15:32)
10. Demeaning: As long as she doesn’t burn the soup. I really hope that the Hebrew press isn’t going to demean itself in this way as it did before. / Shel Zahav – Israel (01/15/2010 15:51)
11. It’s the price of being rich. : If you are perceived by employees to be rich you will be sued. It’s just a matter of time. It’s their lottery ticket. Every successful business owner knows this in the USA. / Jeff – usa (01/15/2010 16:10)
12. Wasn”t it the Nanny last time? : Haven’t we heard a tale like this before? Sounds like they are an absolutely spiffing couple….! / Not a fan – England (01/15/2010 16:34)
13. Mrs. Netanyahu: How Saba Pete knows that Netanyahus housekeeper doens’t pay income tax on her salary i don’t know. Furthermore not every maid gets paid hourly. I suppose a full employed person gets a monthly salary. As this is the second time an employee of Sarah Netanyahu, sorry “Mrs”, has brought a complaint against her I feel that there might be something strange in Mrs. Netanyahu’s behaviour towards her domestic help. I do agree with No.1 why did she stay so long. I wouldn’t work for anyone who treated me badly, no matter whose wife she might be. / Renny – Israel (01/15/2010 17:46)
14. lawyer: whoever is her lawyer dont use him its such a bad case / avrohom – (01/15/2010 18:20)
15. NIS 300000 for compensation? Not bad for a maid… I guess that’s her magic number.: That’s all it takes for her to sell her soul, And for what? Lawyers will get two thirds, taxman will get a good part of what’s left over. She will end up with lots of stress and little money. Not a good deal overall… By the way, the story already hit the airwaves on BBC. Bravo lady! Makes us look real goooooooooood. More anti-Semitic ammunition for the haters. Did you ever try to communicate your displeasure to the Netanyahus themselves? Hope all this nonsense was worth it for you… / Ilan – (01/15/2010 18:45)
16. Interesting, how a person supposedly under those conditions would continue: to work for a total of six years. and only filed a law suit when she was replaced and no longer had a job. I wonder how long it took her to think this out, and what to accuse her of. I seriously thing that if she observed shabbat that she would have been made to work on that day. salary is set at onset of hiring and an agreement is reached between both parties, if you do not agree then dont accept the position. there are no laws that say you have to be paid a minimum wage because she is not a business. she is a private person. technically she is the mother of Israel as obamas wife is the usa / Rogerlen – (01/15/2010 18:56)
17. Why did she work 6 years for the woman? Perhaps she was threatened with a bad recommendation.: Considering all I have read about Sarah N. in the press and books I would not be surprised. And who would not believe Sarah’s capable of pettiness or vengeance. She did not even want HER sons knowing about Bibi’s daughter by his first wife. Despite Bibi being a horndog and poor Sarah probably has a lot to contend with, she does have a propensity for assuming regal pomp. One would hope her study of psychology would have moderated her. It will be interesting to follow this suit to learn just what the truth is, but jumping to the accusation of the worker only wanting money is rather small. / Claudia – USA (01/15/2010 19:16)
18. Housekeeper – To no 7: This govenrment can not be discredited! It is already discredited and is a joke. Israel merit something better. / Rigoletto – Switzerland (01/15/2010 20:19)
19. A real shomer shabbat does not work on Shabbat…: Not even for Bibi’s wife! And even less for SIX years! / Maor Benalmani – Venezuela (01/15/2010 20:37)
20. The Netanyahu’s: I remember when BiBi was (first) PM of Israel. There was also a very bad scandal re the Netanyahu family. Can anyone remember if it was when BiBi was with his first wife (how many did he have?), or the present “Mrs Sarah Netanyahu”? Incidentally, is it supposed to be a great privilege to work for a PM; Royal Family; Film Star; or a Porn Lady, etc.? / Rozz – (01/15/2010 21:28)
21. Mother of Israel! To all arrogants of column and specific & 16: Technically te maid Is THe Mother of Israel As Well. Not to mention the provisions of Moses…ect…ect..ect.. / Mother – (01/15/2010 22:09)
22. Lillian: Did JPost (a) deliberately omit the last name of the plaintiff in this litigation, or (b) assume that household employees not have last names? And the latter, how do household employees lose their last names? Do they get them back in the Next World? / Yahuda Thunkit – USA (01/15/2010 22:11)
23. @#2 saba Pete: You are like all the americans who defend corrupt politicians. You cannot imagine that a ‘powerful’ person can do any wrong, and ‘power’ must be defended at any cost. Why don’t you push Parliament to pass a law that people with less than 100,000 new Israeli pesos in the bank are not allowed to vote. It would solve several problems at once! / Walter – (01/15/2010 23:25)
24. re: “why did she not quit”: The silly people who ask that have never really worked. The majority of people in the world are forced to do unpleasant work, just to survive. People who don’t understand that should be shamed. By the way, Netanyahu rose to power through…? His brilliance? Right? OK. So long as he did not try to ride the coattails of a dead hero. / Walter – (01/15/2010 23:32)
25. Housekeeper: Shtuiyot! Seems like a political opponent of Bibi is paying this stupid woman AND her lawyer to come forward with a even more stupid case. / jake – USA / Israel (01/16/2010 00:00)
26. What’s weird about this is that… : …she waits until she no longer works for them to sue. And the fact that she willingly worked A WHOLE SIX YEARS and didn’t think to up and quit is also pretty bizarre. If I worked in a job that bad, I’d work a short time. / Manic Drummer – USA (01/16/2010 00:20)
27. Don’t believe this maid completely… : There are two sides (sometimes more) to every story. We may never know the truth, motivation, etc / shuebydoo – USA (01/16/2010 00:23)
28. Absolutely stupid article and stupid discussion: …over private matters of Natanyahu family. Who cares about those lawsuits? Sarah Natanyahu is not important person in Israeli politics as well as her housekeeper. The real discussion should be on how is Bibi doing? / Mark – (01/16/2010 01:00)
29. Mrs. Netanyahu’s response includes this woman’s resignation letter, which says: how wonderfully warm and loving her experience was and how grateful she felt for her time with the Netanyahu family. This case is a highly charged attempt to hurt the Netanyahu’s and I find it disgusting that it likely has succeeded within some people’s minds in spite of the just released proof that the women is lying. I certainly hope there is a countersuit. / Mea – (01/16/2010 01:59)
30. The apparent sad state of Israeli women: This Lillian seemed to have been treated like a slave, but why didn’t she walk out? Of course, she would not have been hired by Ehud Barak, who prefers undocumented aliens. As for working for Moshe Katsav, there is only one requirement: looks, looks, looks. / Boris – Canada (01/16/2010 02:26)
31. Another gold digger… : If she wins (knowing Israeli legal system, I would not be surprised), I sure hope the lady will figure out how to budget NIS300K to last until the end of her life, because she certainly won’t find another job. / Dan – Aotearoa New Zealand (01/16/2010 02:27)
32. And…they complain about Anti-Semitism and claims to be “chosen”, ummm…: / AHMADINEJAD – IRAN (01/16/2010 03:50)
33. To AHAMADINEJAD @ 32 – At least the housekeeper wasn’t murdered….. : as a Palestinian may well have done. It takes nothing for these Arabs to take a knife out of their pockets and stab an innocent Jew so why not a Housekeeper who annoys her. / Rightfully Yours – Israel (01/16/2010 08:43)
41. To #33 We Iranians are not like Arabs as you say. We don’t use knives, too messy, we use: mullas and motorcycle louts with batons and guns. We don’t murder, we follow orders of my Idol, my namesake, my mentor The Great Looney, AhMADding dong. We just gently “get rid” of our opposition..and if we say Alla Akbar it’s Hallal, It’s OK. / AHMADINEJAD IRAN – (01/17/2010 01:41)
34. Oi Vey! something fisshy here, and it ain’t gafilte fish. Complaining after 6 years, what a phoney…: / Stirring the Pot??????????? – (01/16/2010 09:08)
35. Much better story than about the Baraks having an illegal Thai Worker-Bibi leads i.: And “that woman” is the “mother of the Nation”????Oh no. Why do Israeli families with big income be so “Kamzanim”, so greedy with poor hard working people??? / Counterpropaganda Gil – Germany (01/16/2010 13:12)
36. Bad Sarah again-like before, when she ordered mossad agents to clean up the baby spill: ..that was some years ago, but the Shin Beth, nor the Mossad were not happy about it. That woman must be terrible. Poor Bibi. He could to control a state, but he cannot control “that woman”. Maybe he should call Sarkozy… My office is ready to translate. “Mon cher ami, ques`ce quÂ´no fait aves une femme fatake???” Mazal Tov. / Counterpropaganda Gil – Germany (01/16/2010 13:16)
37. Typical around the world: Less jobs and no workers rights this is what happens. In the United States many times the bully becomes head of the corporation and the laid off employees are escorted out of the company for security reasons. Meanwhile, the government doesn’t care what nuthead or low mentality person has a gun. These corporations are so dirty that when a person is truly laid off they make it hard for them to get unemployment. A Scummy environment around the world. / Bob – USA (01/16/2010 14:42)
38. The worst: Methink that the worst abuse was to call “Mistress Sarah Netanyahu’ (as Mrs is only for written not oral communications). I wonder how she was calling her aids? Also with Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms titles? I also wonder how Bibio was saluting his wife and she was calling him. Much ado about nothing! / Victor – Canada (01/16/2010 14:44)
44. To #38. “Geveret”: Probably that woman was asked to say “Geveret” (Madam) and not, simply, “Sarah”. And, when buying at the supermarket, “Geveret Sarah Netanyahu,” (and, again, not simply “Sarah”: “Sarah told me…”). In our post-Kibutznik country, some people find this treatment uncomfortable. Much ado about nothing. / Inquirer – Israel (01/17/2010 09:24)
39. forced her to work for 6 six 6 six count them 6 years ???? FORCED her to work Shabbat etc rubbish if she didn’t like the job she should have quit: trying to make money out of famous employers is nothing new/ it is very close to blackmail however / pull the other one – Israel (01/16/2010 16:56)
40. housekeeper sues: not newsworthy-cheap tabloid politics always against the right–this woman could work elewhere–israel is a ‘democracy’ no? / moron – galut (01/16/2010 17:20)
42. Send this woman to where she belongs – jail: Another scam by another scam artist. Why did she stay as long as she did? She could have left after one week or one month / Menashe – (01/17/2010 07:49)
43. Housekeeper: If what the housekeeper says was true, why didn’t she quit? And why did she wait so many years to sue? / Rachel – Israel (01/17/2010 08:37)

‘Housekeeper sues Sarah Netanyahu’ Jan 15, 2010 / By Jerusalem Post
A 44-year-old woman who worked as housekeeper for the Netanyahu family for six years recently filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s wife Sarah at the Tel Aviv Labor Court, Yediot Aharonot reported on Friday.
“Sarah Netanyahu abused me, paid me a salary lower than minimum wage, failed to pay my social benefits, forced me to work during Shabbat – even though I observe Shabbat – and made me call her ‘Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu’,” the former employee was quoted as writing in the lawsuit.
The plaintiff, a married woman named Lillian with four children, reportedly claims that her relationship with Sarah involved constant humiliation and an overall hostile atmosphere.
Netanyahu’s wife is said to have expected Lillian to be on call 24-hours a day, and according to the report, once even phoned her at 2 a.m. to reprimand her for failing to properly cover a pillow. In addition, the former Netanyahu housekeeper claims Sarah would call her in to work over the weekend, making her desecrate the Sabbath.
She said Sarah also forced her other employees to call her “Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu” and would often boast that she had a beautiful house, telling her housekeeping staff how lucky they were to be working for the Netanyahu family and saying she was the “mother of the state of Israel.”
The former housekeeper is demanding that the Netanyahu family pay her NIS 300,000 in compensation.
Netanyahu has yet to file a statement of defense.

PM’s wife Sued by Former Housekeeper Jan 15, 2010 / By Yeshiva World News
Talkbacks for this article: 1
1. According to the story in the Jerusalem Post, she was employed for six years. If she is Shomer Shabbos, why wait so long with the complaint? / Comment by Moose613 — January 15, 2010 @ 12:17 pm
PM’s wife Sued by Former Housekeeper Jan 15, 2010 / By Yeshiva World News
In an embarrassing lawsuit, Lillian, a former housekeeper employed by Mrs. Sara Netanyahu in the family’s Caesarea home has filed a suit against her, claiming she was deprived of basic employment benefits and abused during her employment. Lillian explains she is shomer shabbos, but nonetheless, was compelled to work on shabbos to keep her job.
The suit was filed in the Tel Aviv Labor Court, alleging she was not paid Bituach Leumi and other minimum amenities. Regarding the ‘abuse’, she was compelled to call her employer “Mrs. Sara Netanyahu” after Mr. Netanyahu became prime minister, she explains in the suit.
She alleges that Mrs. Netanyahu frequently abused her verbally, and “lost it” and shouted at her if she perceived her orders were not fulfilled to the letter of the law, including the need to change clothes frequently during the day, to ensure she wore different clothing when cleaning the kitchen, bathrooms and other areas of the home.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

Sarah Netanyahu: Lawsuit a smear job Jan 15, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Talkbacks for this article: 7
1. wow a slandering Jewess: not something you see everyday (unless you live on Israel’s left coast) / Ruri (01.16.10)
2. As I said earlier, the woman’s slanderous remarks were: inconsistent, malicious and therefore very suspect. I am glad that Mrs. Netanyahu has defended herself using the very words put forth by this woman. I personally get a bit weary of the tact that all public people must really be evil or disingenuous or cheats. The media should trust the public to understand the process of being entitled to defend yourself in these situations (in other words, they should have gotten Mrs. Netanyahu’s statements and printed them along with the accusations so readers are offered both sides from the beginning) and allow us to see the process through instead of using us to sensationalize what is most likely not such a sensational truth. Why does every maid’s tale have to be a public hanging of the employer if the employer is famous? The press needs to also be accountable. This story should not have originally slandered Mrs. Netanyahu. / Mea (01.16.10)
3. Of course, of course…: We all know and see how israeli’s treat their enemies…. I won’t believe a word this woman (sarah nuttyahoo) has to say… / Mark, Netherlands (01.16.10)
4. Did Mrs. Netanyahu sponsor this article?: Maybe it was written by a relative of the Netanyahus? Does not look professional. / Walter, Anchorage USA (01.16.10)
5. Sara is a beast: Benjamin is a Handsome guy he can do better then Sara! / Steven Stein, New York New York (01.16.10)
6. Uh huh…: / BBSNews, Charlotte, NC (01.16.10) bbsnews@gmail.com
7. Hold on a second!: This woman worked for the Netanyahus for a whole six years?! If I worked for an abusive employer, I’d work a short time! Definitely a smear if there ever was one. / Manic Drummer, Madison, USA (01.16.10)
Sarah Netanyahu: Lawsuit a smear job Jan 15, 2010 / By Ynetnews
PM’s wife dismisses charges made by former maid, says woman was treated warmly
Roni Sofer Published: 01.15.10, 23:08 / Israel News
A lawsuit filed by a former maid at the Netanyahu household is a smear job based on fabrications and slander, the prime minister’s wife said in a statement Friday.
Earlier, Yedioth Ahronoth reported that former employee Lillian Peretz was suing Sarah Netanyahu over humiliating treatment on the job. According to the lawsuit, PM Netanyahu’s wife abused her maid, paid her less than minimum wage, and regularly screamed at her, among other things.
However, Ms. Netanyahu said the lawsuit was “false and replete with slander and fabrications about the prime minister’s wife.”
According to Ms. Netanyahu’s statement, the former maid was treated “with warmth and love.” The PM’s wife noted that in her resignation letter, Ms. Peretz wrote: “I submit my resignation from my job at the house in Caesarea with plenty of love and appreciation.”
Ms. Netanyahu also referred to a news story published by Ynet in the past, where the former maid was quoted as saying: “I’m crazy about Sarah. I have no friends, and she is a friend and a mother…she’s everything for me. She’s an amazing person. I dearly love her.”
According to the statement, Ms. Peretz mostly had to maintain an empty house and enjoyed long vacations, as the Caesarea home was only used by the Netanyahu family on weekends.

Former employee sues Sarah Netanyahu Jan 15, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Talkbacks for this article: 30
1. For six years she took paychecks and now she complains.: Mrs. Netanyahu would have been a more appropriate title. If a domestic or other employee can’t seduce the husband like Aleph did to Katsav, then attack the wife. At least Mrs. Netanyahu got people to do things her way since she was the employer, unlike Mrs. Katsav who could not get the clerical staff to dress modestly for work since they wanted to flaunt their near naked chests to seduce her husband. No doubt there are enemies behind the scenes paying such people to attack Israel’s first families. / Rivkah (01.15.10)
2. Modern day slavery….: As practised by the prime Minister’s wife. Any thing to save a buck, Netanyahu? / Marco , Spain (01.15.10)
3. Rabbi Yeshua asked, Who can stand before envy?: / Rivkah (01.15.10)
4. #1 people need to make money 2 live on!: / (01.15.10)
5. Remembering the skit “under Sarah’s sink”: It was satire but there is truth to it over the years the clear impression has been created by a whole group of former employees that there is a bit of obsessive compulsive cleanliness behavior in the Netanyahu household. / (01.15.10)
6. Where is Mrs. Sarah B. of USA – any resemblance?: / Observer (01.15.10)
7. I too am puzzled why anyone would work for six years under: these conditions. If she has records of her hours and pay stubs and was cheated, then by all means collect everything a court could give her. No one should suffer abuse from an employer and the time to end it is the first day it happens. / Bunnie Meyer, Los Angeles, CA USA (01.15.10)
8. Wasnt there a similar case a few years ago involving her chi: / Karen , Rehovot (01.15.10)
9. People say she was a “pig”.: But I think she has been punished and ridiculed enough. She can’t speak in public. When she smiles at her husband’s side, she is satirized. Enough. / vered, israel (01.15.10)
10. I agree with #1: She could have said: Ïf these are your conditions, I am shomeret Shabbat and I am sorry but I will have to resign. No one forced her to work there. I have no doubt that the servant told the truth but Mrs N did nothing wrong. / Israeli 2 (01.15.10)
11. Only in Israel…: …would an employee sue for not being allowed to be with her employer on a first name basis. That’s really slavery! / Ehud, TA (01.15.10)
12. This Lilian seems to be a silly fool,: willing to get a good extra money. And Bibi’s wife has a great merit:at least she hired a Jew to work for her. What are both missing is to go to the Sinagogue and learn a bit of Ahavat Israel between the two. That what is missing! / Keren, IL-BR (01.15.10)
13. Marco: 1. We don’t know the facts 2. Minimum wage in Israel is about 100 Euros higher than in Spain, so even if underpaid she might have still got more than Zapatero pays 3. You should be more concerned with the astronomic unemployment rate in Spain than with a labor concflict in Israel / Ehud, TA (01.15.10)
14. Former employee sues Sarah Netanyahu: may be Sarah, oh sorry Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu watched to many TV-soaps / Gerry (01.15.10)
15. I bet this isa prelude to her new book “The Bibi Bunch”: / Alan, SA (01.15.10)
16. English saying-Dont wash dirty linen in public: / (01.15.10)
17. Netanyahu the fool: Netanyahu betrayed his supporters by pushing for an Arab state and implementing the anti-Jew freeze, thinking that he would become popular. Now, the press attacks him: first the Ayalon-Turkey incident, now the personal attacks on his wife. The funny thing is that his friends warned him. / (01.15.10)
18. to Marco # 2: Mind your own country’s business.. your country invented the inquisition and other forms of abuse. And most people in your country don’t even know that the capital of Israel is Jerusalem. So you are definitely not in a position to even squeak in our direction. you want to be “European” with your anti Israeli sloganry, but the truth is that most Europeans look down on you even if they agree with your anti Semitism / smith, Jerusalem (01.15.10)
19. Everyone knows Lillian speaks the truth. Sara should pay up! : / Reb L. Yell, Carmiel, Israel (01.15.10)
20. Fruitcake: One wonders about the flawed judgement of Mr Netanyahu by marrying a fruitcake. / Robert, Brisbane, Australia (01.15.10)
21. Forgive my namesake, we still believe to be the Masters: of Judíos and criticize them left and right, no matter what the subject is or which side is right or wrong, Judíos are always to blame / Marco El Puerco, Puta, MadreImperio Español (01.15.10)
22. Sounds like Ann Ayalon goes to Washington Part II: Rick, Herzliya (01.15.10)
23. Sarah is a Monster; known fact: Everyomne knows that Sarah is a monster and pretencious prima donna. / Elly, Vienna, Austria (01.15.10)
24. Sarah sounds off the wall, to say the least.: There seems to be no limits to her conceit and arrogance as she boast about her house and being the “mother of the State of Israel.” I wouldn’t want to work for Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu. What a lousy attitude! / Rich, Toronto, Canada (01.15.10)
25. How is it that only Mrs. Shimon Peres avoids attacks?: Must be because the only time people see her is when she is admitted to a hospital. President Peres is wise to keep his treasure hidden from public view and attacks in such a vicious world where servants hate their employers. That is as ancient as time since even Hagar hated her mistress Sarah in the Bible in the family of Abraham the Patriarch. / Rivkah (01.15.10)
26. If she is the mother of Israel, Isarel wishes: to bevome an orphan / Me (01.15.10)
27. Yes, there was a similar case some years: ago. She needs urgent psychiatric treatment. I am not sure that she can be helped. Why did Bibi marry such a pain in the neck? I remember that she got herself pregnant and forced him to marry her…. / Me (01.15.10)
28. Does Sarah Think She’s Leona Helmsley?: From a Western point of view, it would be rather unusual for a paid employee to call here by her first name. We would expect “Mrs. Netanyahu,” but having to add “Sarah” to that is ridiculous. But that’s the minor thing: the major thing is the alleged economic abuse. / Arik Silverman , Milwaukee USA (01.15.10)
29. Wasn’t there a previous Netanyahu gift scandal?: I seem to recall that the last time the Bibis left office there was a scandal over them taking home valuable gifts which arguably had been given by foreign governments not to them personally but to the State of Israel. / Arik Silverman, Milwaukee USA (01.15.10)
30. Sounds fabricated and/or exaggerated: I seriously, seriously doubt that Mrs. Netanyahu strolls around proclaiming such things. Perhaps she once joked with a friend and made light, but who’s to know? It appears to me more likely that this person held a grudge and took notes with an aim. For six years, she never complained? Why not? As for allegations Netanyahu is some sort of prima donna, that too is not substantiated. If she is, that is an opinion and not illegal. That the plaintiff slanders her this way is disgusting and even unlawful. And no person who is really observant of shabbot is working on shabbot. Sorry, I do not buy it. Also, the various sets of clothing mean she strolled around room to room in filthy clothing after heavy work, and it is reasonable to change before going into the kitchen or living areas near guests. Again, the number of changes is perhaps exaggerated. Until the response is issued how can you presume to judge anyone, including Sarah Netanyahu? What is that old commercial for hair dye, “Don’t hate me because I am beautiful”. Sarah Netanyahu could say, “Don’t hate me just because I am Sarah Netanyahu. People change.” I know it is impossible to really know and judge people in the limelight. But Netanyahu deserves a fair hearing. What she does NOT deserve is this highly slanderous attack on her character. I find it abhorant, unbalanced and malicious and I really hope that if it is not true, Sarah Netanyahu countersues. / Mea (01.15.10)
Former employee sues Sarah Netanyahu Jan 15, 2010 / By Ynetnews
Lillian, who worked as housekeep for prime minister’s wife for six year, files claim with Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court accusing Netanyahu of abuse, underpayment, forced labor on Shabbat. Full story appears in Friday’s Yedioth Ahronoth
Tsach Schpizen
Published: 01.15.10, 08:10 / Israel News “Sarah Netanyahu abused me, paid me less than minimum wage, didn’t pay my social benefits, forced me to work Saturdays even though I observe Shabbat, and forced me to call her ‘Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu’,” these are just some of the allegations Lillian, a former housekeeper for the Netanyahu family in their Caesarea residence, made against the prime minister’s wife.
In a claim filed with the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court by her lawyers Asaf Sharaf and Shai Lavi, Lillian recounts her version of experiences during her six years working for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife.
According to the claim: “The relationship (with Sarah Netanyahu) constantly came with a line of humiliation and a hostile atmosphere both at work and outside of work. For example, after Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu was elected prime minister, Lillian was not allowed to call the defendant by her first name, but was to call her, ‘Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu’.
“And if she was to make an innocent mistake, out of belief that this was a personal relationship, Netanyahu would shout at her for daring to call her by her first name since, ‘I am a person of authority, and every one of my household staff must respect me and call me by my title, Mrs. Sarah Netanyahu.’”
The claim continues to say that “Sarah Netanyahu would adorn herself in her feathers and shout aloud: ‘This is my beautiful house, and I am the mother of the State of Israel.’
“Lillian was forced to bring four sets of work cloths to work each day: A set for doing laundry, a set for cleaning the toilets and the showers, a set for cleaning the rooms, and a fourth set for cleaning the kitchen.
“If she would dare violate Netanyahu’s clear orders, the latter would shriek and lose her mind over how Lillian must maintain maximum sterility and not pollute the house.”
The prime minister’s wife has yet to file a response to the claims.

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An Open Letter to Sara Netanyahu

Yossi Sarid: Will Michelle Obama agree to meet Sara Netanyahu after all? May 18, 2009 / By Haaretz
A person feels some discomfort when once again discussing Sara Netanyahu and her trips abroad with her husband. The weight of political correctness threatens to spoil the prose: So many have tormented Sara, and we are not of their ilk.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to avoid the question: Why, why does every such visit to Washington have to include a tinge of brazen effrontery and embarrassing pushiness? The prime minister is going for a “working visit,” according to the official description; the trip will last all of two days; and it is not exactly clear what Sara will be doing there with him – unless this brief separation is like a living death for Benjamin Netanyahu, or his wife’s good advice is absolutely essential in these exceptionally complex political and diplomatic circumstances.
If a prime minister’s wife is already taking the trouble to travel so far, this creates a kind of expectation that the president’s wife will compensate her for her efforts by granting her at least a brief meeting, if not a luncheon. On the other hand, Michelle Obama is evidently an independent woman; she is not inseparable from her presidential husband, and she has her own agenda: She is traveling to New York to inaugurate a new wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and to be the guest of honor at the American Ballet Theatre’s gala ball.
And now, insult is crouching like a dog at the door of the president’s official guest residence, Blair House, and its shadow is liable to darken the entire visit. And the tension will accompany us until it is all over, tomorrow: Will the two women meet or not? Maariv reported that Sara requested a meeting with Michelle, virtually inviting a slap in the face – which, as Israelis, we will under no circumstances accept.
If I had to bet, I would venture to guess that the meeting will nevertheless take place. Michelle will agree to return from New York, and even to give up on the ballet, because a little goodwill on her part would contribute to the final joint statement on the negotiations over the West Bank and the Syrian heights. Bad manners at the White House could harden the Israeli position, which would be an unnecessary and truly pointless pity. It would be better for Michelle to allocate her time wisely and responsibly – to distinguish between the important and the trivial, between her duties in Washington and her pleasures in New York.
There is no doubt that while these lines are being written, influential parties are still trying to prevent the mishap: Efforts are still being made behind the scenes to save the visit at the last minute.
Meirav Michaeli: Yes you can, Sara May 18, 2009 / By Haaretz
On the margins of all the reports and commentaries about the prime minister’s trip to Washington, the media made sure to note that his wife, Sara Netanyahu, will apparently not meet First Lady Michelle Obama. Some articles explained that Michelle Obama is out of town, and some did not miss the chance to use headlines such as “Sara arrives at the White House, Michelle disappears.” Inspired by all all this, I am writing Sara an open letter, discussing the status of “first lady.”
Sara, I recall well what happened to you during Benjamin Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister, all the negative news, how they enjoyed attacking you. You, for your part, did not remain passive; you filed slander suits, you got angry and criticized. This time you have learned your lesson and stayed behind, rarely appearing in public.
I would like to say to you: Don’t be guided by this petty accounting. Don’t run your life based on what they tell you, or what you’re afraid they’ll say about what you do. You are in a position of strength, in the spotlight, which you can use to benefit the many who need you. You are a child psychologist by profession; who knows as well as you how many children need the government’s attention and care? Here you can pitch in and help.
I have no doubt that the work you’re doing on an individual basis is praiseworthy. But you have received what Michelle Obama calls “one of the best jobs in the world,” because it can be used to help women change their lives.
It’s true, that’s the United States, they’re much more accepting there, certainly when it comes to the Obamas, but really it’s also because of what’s being done. For example, on Tuesday, Michelle Obama spoke at an event in Washington about her decision to stop working for a corporation and find a job that empowers the community. She also discussed her parents’ financial difficulties, which prevented her from taking such a job when she was young. Next week she will meet with families of U.S. soldiers, and a month ago, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, she spoke about women’s tremendous difficulties in doing everything expected of them without support systems. She noted the urgent need to reorganize support groups, so the burden won’t fall on women.
On Friday, Obama delivered her first commencement address as first lady, at the University of California, Merced, a campus only four years old in a city of 80,000. She went because the students invited her. They invited her because they thought she “understands our desire for historical change.” So she came. Wouldn’t you have come? Wouldn’t you want to be a model of inspiration for students?
In her speech, Obama said: “You, too, can have this same transformative effect on the community of Merced and our entire nation …. Dream big, think broadly about your life, and please make giving back to your community a part of that vision.”
Obama sees herself as part of an inspirational dynasty; she quoted Marian Wright Edelman, the first black woman hired by a law firm in Mississippi who devoted her legal activity to the struggle for human rights. “Service is the rent we pay for living … it is the true measure, the only measure of our success.”
Dear Sara, at the beginning of your husband’s first term you were involved in various activities; you were the chairwoman of Yad BeYad (Hand in Hand) for children in distress, and honorary president of Tsad Kadima (A Step Forward) for children who suffer from cerebral palsy. I also remember the tremendous energy and strong desire for action you showed when you answered our invitation to provide sponsorship for Ezrat Nashim’s major launching event for victims of sexual attacks.
I beg of you to take all that energy and talent and use your position to tell young women about the difficulties you experienced, to instill hope and bring about change. You can do it. If God is willing, perhaps She will ensure that it happens to you, and to your husband, may he live a long life.

Benny Ziffer: Take the wife, please May 28, 2009 / By Haaretz
Carla Bruni is an example of the important contribution a prime minister’s wife can make without doing much, apart from being a treat for the eyes. In her elegance, her lightness, her ankles strapped into high-heeled shoes, she represents the history of France, a country that has always sacrificed so very much for the sake of the pleasure of looking at something immeasurably beautiful, like the Mona Lisa. And our Mona Lisa is Sara Netanyahu. There is a certain similarity between their frozen, melancholy smiles.
There is a sense that, like the woman in the Louvre, Sara Netanyahu never peels off the smile that is glued onto her face, even when she goes to sleep. Is it possible that some deranged media advisor has decided that this would be the contribution of the prime minister’s wife to the promotion of Israel’s reputation abroad as a country of good manners and European upbringing?
You won’t succeed in fooling anyone, gentlemen. That bashful, good-girl smile is the sharpest possible antithesis imaginable to the well-known Israeli aggressiveness. That is, unlike Carla Bruni’s shoes, Sara Netanyahu’s smile is an imported accessory. Not an Israeli product. This nanny-prompted smile, which says nothing in the Israeli context, in truth symbolizes by way of negation very much more than what Sara Netanyahu intends it to symbolize in a positive way. Its polite banality wonderfully reflects the banality of the bombastic statements made by her husband, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Washington about Israel’s readiness for negotiations with the Palestinians.
The smile also symbolizes the role the current Israeli prime minister has assigned to the position known as “the prime minister’s wife.” And this role amounts to her having to keep quiet and smile. To be a doll, if not worse than that: a honey-bun. That is, what is most embodied in Sara Netanyahu’s smile is the Israeli machismo rooted in the fact of the husband’s ostensible obligation to take “the wife” along with him to America.
Why, for heavens’ sake, did she have to come? Was it in order to see to it that his shirts are ironed? Or so that he won’t be caught making eyes at the flight attendants? Was it perhaps intended to symbolize the happiness of Israeli families, which for its part is an imitation of the American ideal of the perfect family that is represented by President Barack Obama, his wife, their daughters and their puppy dog?
All of the answers lead to the same place: The position of prime minister’s wife, and especially as it is being filled by Sara Netanyahu, is the imitation of something whose origins are not entirely clear. Perhaps in the 19th-century girls novel “Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott.
A reminder from the recent past: The person who shattered the illusion as to the moderating and soothing role that is supposedly played by the wives of leaders was Aliza Olmert, the wife of our last prime minister. This artist and preeminent leftist was not successful in preventing her husband from doing even a single one of the too many foolish things he did. Which just goes to show that even if you don’t see the foolish smile on their faces, it doesn’t mean anything. Only one thing is clear: that the public function called “the prime minister’s wife” is outdated. It was already a joke back in the days of Paula Ben-Gurion, and it is threatening to reach the height of its ridiculousness as embodied in Sara Netanyahu as a public figure who doesn’t have anything to say to the public apart from smiling that poor man’s Mona Lisa smile of hers.
The newspapers have discussed, some of them extensively, the question of whether Sara Netanyahu would have occasion to meet with Michelle Obama and if not, what the protocol justification for this non-meeting would be. The reporters reported on a meeting between the prime minister’s wife and urban child psychologists from Washington. Ultimately, this boiled down to a photo-op of the prime minister’s wife sitting in some auditorium with some people. What the photo does not reveal is the scandalous cost of such a move in terms of bodyguards, security and all the accompanying headaches. The high price of the photographed smile that Sara Netanyahu bestowed upon the child psychologists of Washington is indirectly paid by the children in Israel, who have been born into a state that makes a top priority of ceremonial trips abroad by its leaders, so that they can, after having kissed their wives good-bye in the morning, discuss the fate of the Middle East with the president of the United States. Every leader, anew, is sure that he will get to the White House, sit with one leg propped up on the other across from the president, and with his personal charm, will save Israel.
And in the meantime, honey-bun, enjoy yourself.

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Sara Netanyahu Fashion & Style

Shahar Atwan: What does Sara Netanyahu wish to convey via her wardrobe? Oct 6, 2009 / By Haaretz
At the beginning of the month, a photo of the Netanyahus showed the first lady in a new light: in an elegant black cocktail dress, with cap sleeves that barely covered her shoulders. Sara Netanyahu appeared soft, comfortable, just formal enough and trendier than she has ever looked before.
Over the last weekend, in contrast, during her visit to New York, Netanyahu reverted to her usual look during her husband’s term – the exemplary, cautious wife. Wearing a black T-shirt with a wide, rounded neckline, loose black slacks and a dark gray jacket with a large lapel and padded shoulders, she once again looked proper and distant.
Exactly six months ago, Benjamin Netanyahu was appointed prime minister for a second time, and his wife, Sara, received a chance to present a new image. During her husband’s previous term, she employed a personal tailor to alter suits and dresses from elite fashion houses abroad. Now, she told Yedioth Ahronoth in May, she buys most of her clothes from Merav Yohanan, “a young, talented designer who has a store in South Tel Aviv,” (Haaretz could not find this designer or store). Sometimes, Netanyahu said, she buys off the rack, and sometimes she commissions custom pieces. She also frequents popular clothing stores and “hops over to Zara.”
“Everyone thinks I have an army of stylists and seamstresses, but how is that possible? I don’t have time for that,” she told Yedioth.
Really? It is doubtful whether anyone could erroneously imagine that this woman is overseen by a battery of stylists or designers. Apart from Ofira Navon and Leah Rabin, the wives of Israeli prime ministers and presidents never really acquired a status as fashion icons, perhaps because of the relatively limited local fashion options, or perhaps because of fashion’s image as an esoteric and superficial endeavor.
What, then, does Netanyahu wish to convey to the public through her appearance? In light of a history of media upheavals, it seems she prefers not to say anything at all. Her choice of clothes is safe and cautious, even when she seeks to hint at a highly developed fashion consciousness. For example, during a visit to the Western Wall, she wore a purple silk scarf bearing the Louis Vuitton logo, an international catch phrase for those aspiring to be trendy.
Most of the changes in Netanyahu’s wardrobe indicate a shift toward the formal. The rich colors that marked her husband’s first term have been replaced with dark tones. Naturally, both she and her wardrobe have matured, and it better suits her status: pant suits or knee length skirts, usually in blacks, dark grays or blues; short jackets that fit too snugly; sharp oversized lapels with contrasting highlights; and metallic accents that mimic brocade or taffeta. Her choices indicate a slightly outdated perception of prestige and festivity. She generally chooses form-fitting shapes that highlight her waist and are cinched with a belt, or cropped jackets and V-necks that draw the eye upward.
It seems that Netanyahu is trying to correct her image troubles from her previous term, even going as far as changing her hairstyle: the carefully tended, stiff ‘do that made headlines several times during her husband’s last term, in part because she had hired a personal hairstylist and because she and her husband therefore were late to several important events, has been replaced with a longer, more natural and accessible look, with the ends flipped outward.
Her makeup has become more refined, and also appears more natural. She is even wearing less jewelry – the large strand of pearls from the last term has been replaced with a thin gold chain, with a round pendant or set with stones.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife, Carla Bruni, embraces her country’s long-standing tradition of luxury tailoring, and the American first lady, Michelle Obama, also known for her good taste, tends to combine items by top designers with big brands such as J. Crew or Gap.
In comparison, Netanyahu dresses properly. Perhaps even too properly: Her cautious and safe interpretation of the first lady’s dress code may suit the proper image she is cultivating, but she would do well to get rid of the stiff, standard pants suits in favor of dresses made of natural and softer fabrics, in more up-to-date and comfortable cuts, such as what she wore for her meeting with Madonna. Within the many limitations she has imposed on her wardrobe, she can shape an elegant and well-tended look, if she would only occasionally drop the harsh pants suits and include more classic feminine pieces.
In general, says stylist Reuven Cohen, Sara Netanyahu dresses okay.
“I would avoid dressing her in gold tones because it does not flatter her skin and hair color. Apart from that, she is rather careful and solid,” he said.
Cohen says her staid appearance stems from her monotone outfits, usually black, topped with a patterned or textured jacket as a nod to the thousands of eyes watching her.
“The staid dress leaves her in a place where no one can say anything about her, and all in all, it is hard to say anything bad about her. She could try to wear more dresses, but she prefers to play it safe in slacks, and it seems she is aware of her physical dimensions and knows how to dress in a way that flatters her form,” he said.
Nevertheless, he recommends she wear shorter jackets that highlight her waist, as opposed to longer jackets, which add bulk. “I would avoid accessories because her jackets cover her arms – there is no room for bracelets and her neck is not long enough for necklaces.”
Her lips are nice, he says, and recommends she highlight them with lipstick, as she usually does.
“She knows what suits her and refrains from attracting attention. She doesn’t go overboard, and watches herself very carefully,” said Cohen.

Barenboim Loves the Knesset~ ^.*