Sara Netanyahu's fraud case highlights the first controversial family in Israel

Sara Netanyahu is still the faithful wife of the Israeli Prime Minister. At her side, smiling to her husband, shaking hands with world leaders, she constantly accompanies Benjamin Netanyahu's frequent travels abroad.

Sara Netanyahu, half of the Israeli couple, can be part of the country's leadership just like her husband.

On the night of his last election victory in 2015, Benjamin Netanyahu, jubilant, said, "I would like to thank my beloved wife Sarah, how many tribulations have you overcome on your side, you have so much strength that my wife, and you grant me so much strength. "

This time, Sara Netanyahu is in the spotlight.

Allegation of misuse of taxpayers' money

On Sunday morning, she will appear before the Jerusalem District Court for her trial for fraud and breach of trust, focusing on the alleged use of taxpayers' dollars at the couple's official residence on Balfour Street.

Between April 2009 and March 2013, Sara Netanyahu ordered approximately $ 100,000 worth of meals from some of Jerusalem's finest restaurants, according to an indictment filed last June, detailing every month's transaction carefully. For example, in December 2011, prosecutors said she had ordered meals at the Prime Minister's residence for a total of 24,164 shekels, or more than $ 6,500.

Under Israeli law, if there is no cook in the Prime Minister's residence, it is permitted to order prepared meals. Prosecutors, however, said the Netanyahu family had a cook at home and she still ordered food, with the Israeli taxpayers paying the bill.

In addition, Sara Netanyahu used public funds to pay servers to serve meals on weekends and at private events, according to prosecutors, who said the handpicked servers were registered as " additional labor "or" cleaners ", to hide the fact that they were illegally employed.

She maintained her innocence. His attorney described the charge as false and hallucinatory.

"It's the first time in Israel and in the world that a woman's executive is judged for food entries," said her legal team in a statement in response to the act of # 39; accusation. "There has been no fraud, no breach of trust or any other crime, we are certain that justice will end up being talked about, truth and logic will prevail."

Workers at the Prime Minister's residence, led by the occasional housekeeper Meni Naftali, complained of cruel treatment by Sara Netanyahu. Naftali accused him of mistreating the residence's staff, including waking him in the middle of the night to reprimand him for buying milk in a bag rather than in a cardboard box. Naftali was successful in a case of ill-treatment in the workplace against Netanyahu in a labor court, where he received more than $ 40,000.

Sara Netanyahu denied any ill-treatment.

Montage of the political scene

Sara Ben-Artzi met Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time in 1989. At the time, she was an air hostess on El Al, the Israeli national airline. The two married in 1991. This was Sara Netanyahu's second marriage and Benjamin's third.

Shortly before the first nomination of Benjamin Netanyahu to power, she consolidated her status. At the time, Netanyahu was running to become the leader of his right-wing party, the Likud. During the 1993 campaign, Netanyahu, then 43, and two years after her marriage to Sara, publicly apologized on public television for an affair with her media advisor, Ruth Bar. Without naming names, Netanyahu accused the oldest members of the party of trying to torpedo his candidacy.

Sara Netanyahu stood next to her husband and became an integral part of the Israeli political scene.

Now 59, she is often referred to by her first name, a celebrity status that does not differ from that of Madonna or Cher, even if it is only in Israeli circles.

Years in the spotlight

The Netanyahu have long been a staple of international news. Being the leader of Israel, a country that attracts a disproportionate share of the world's attention, means that you are rarely in the news for a very long time. But not all stories are about politics, diplomacy and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

For years, the Netanyahu family has been accused of reprehensible, legal or ethical acts. (The youngest son of the couple, Avner, is the only member of the family not to be regularly mentioned in the news.)

During Benjamin Netanyahu's first term as Israeli prime minister in the late 1990s, the police said he had enough evidence to charge him in a corruption case for fraud and breach of trust. He was accused of promoting an attorney general likely to sue a minister of his government, but the acting attorney general said that there was not enough evidence to bring charges. accusations.

New investigations

Netanyahu is again at the center of corruption investigations involving many members of his inner circle. Police say they have enough evidence to charge Netanyahu with three separate investigations, the 1000, 2000 and 4000 cases, for fraud, corruption and breach of trust.

In the 1000 case, Netanyahu is believed to have received gifts from businessmen abroad.

In the 2000 case, the police investigated Netanyahu's conversations with a newspaper publisher about limiting the circulation of a competing newspaper in exchange for more favorable coverage.

Case 4000 is the largest survey the PM is facing. The investigators allege that he would have given his friend regulatory benefits amounting to some $ 280 million in exchange for favorable media coverage on an online news site.

The former chief of staff of Netanyahu, a former family spokesman and the former director general of the Ministry of Communications have all become witnesses to the state as and when the proceedings unfold. surveys. They agreed to testify in cases against the Israeli leader.

Netanyahu decried the investigations as a witch hunt, maintaining his innocence and promising to continue serving. He often rejects the investigations by saying, "There will be nothing because there is nothing".

The investigators also testified that Sara Netanyahu was suspected of corruption in the 4000 case, an allegation she denied.

Focus on the eldest son

In recent years, the couple's eldest son has been in the news. A 2015 recording, published by the Israeli newspaper Hadashot in January, surprised Yair Netanyahu talking about prostitutes and going to undress with his friends. In the recording, we hear him say: "Speaking of whores, what is open at this hour?"

The prime minister said his son was only joking and criticized the decision to publish the recording, while Yair Netanyahu decried the report on a "hidden illegal record" while he was drinking, what He called it scamil.

"In a nocturnal conversation, under the influence of alcohol, I said unpleasant things about women and other things that should not have been said", Yair Netanyahu said, apologizing. "These things do not represent the person I am, the values ​​on which I was educated and what I believe in."

The 27 year old publications on social networks also attracted attention. Last September, he shared a meme on Facebook with antisemitic accents. The post elicited criticism from Israeli officials and Jewish groups, but neo-Nazis and white supremacists praised it. Without apologizing or explaining, Yair Netanyahu removed the post.

Unaffected popularity

The headlines surrounding the Netanyahu family have barely damaged the Prime Minister's popularity or his reputation in the polls. If elections were held today, Netanyahu's Likud party would likely improve the number of seats it currently holds in the Israeli Knesset.

Family controversies have only brought his supporters closer, with the Israeli leader accusing the media and the left of conspiring to overthrow him.

He presented the case against Sara Netanyahu as part of this campaign, already rejecting the investigation and its findings, whatever the outcome.

For a family that is so often in the news, the trial is a new episode in the spotlight in a very public life.