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Wife of the Prime Minister of Israel

Sara Netanyahu
שרה נתניהו
Netanyahu in 2018
Spouse of the Prime Minister of Israel
Incumbent
Assumed role
29 December 2022
Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu
Preceded byLihi Lapid
In role
31 March 2009 – 13 June 2021
Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu
Preceded byAliza Olmert
Succeeded byGilat Bennett
In role
18 June 1996 – 6 July 1999
Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu
Preceded bySonia Peres
Succeeded byNava Barak
Personal details
BornSara Ben-Artzi
(1958-11-05) 5 November 1958 (age 66)
Kiryat Tiv'on, Israel
Spouses
Doron Neuberger ​ ​(m. 1980; div. 1987)​
Benjamin Netanyahu ​(m. 1991)​
ChildrenYair Netanyahu
Avner Netanyahu
Parent(s)Shmuel Ben-Artzi (father)
Chava Paritzky (mother)
Alma materTel Aviv University
OccupationEducational psychologist

Sara Netanyahu (Hebrew: שרה נתניהו; née Ben-Artzi; born November 1958) is the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. By profession, she is an educational and career psychologist. She is the spouse of the Prime Minister of Israel holding the role for her third time.

Biography

Sara on her father Shmuel Ben-Artzi's lap, 1960

Sara Ben-Artzi (later Netanyahu) was born in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Tiv'on, near Haifa. Her father, Shmuel Ben-Artzi, was a Polish-born Israeli Jewish educator, author, poet and biblical scholar, who died in 2011 at the age of 96. Her mother, Chava (née Paritzky; 1922–2003), was a sixth-generation Jerusalemite. She has three brothers, all of whom were Israel Bible Contest champions: Matanya Ben-Artzi, a professor of mathematics, Hagai Ben-Artzi, a professor of Bible and Jewish Thought, and Amatzia Ben-Artzi, a technology entrepreneur. She attended Greenberg High School in Kiryat Tiv'on, where she was an outstanding student.

She later worked as a reporter for Maariv LaNoar, a weekly magazine for Israeli teenagers. In the Israel Defense Forces, she was a psycho-technical evaluator in the Department of Behavioral Sciences of the Military Intelligence Directorate ("Aman"). Netanyahu completed a BA in psychology at Tel Aviv University in 1984 and her master's degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1996.

Netanyahu worked as a psychotechnical evaluator of gifted children at the Institute for Promoting Youth Creativity and Excellence headed by Dr. Erika Landau, and at a rehabilitation center of the Ministry of Labour. She also worked as an El Al flight attendant.

As wife of the prime minister, Netanyahu chaired Yad b'Yad, an aid organization for abused children and Tza'ad Kadima for children with cerebral palsy. In 2001, she went to work as an educational psychologist in the psychological service of the Jerusalem Municipality.

Her work includes psychological diagnoses and treatment for children in the school system and assistance to children from families in distress.

Netanyahu married Doron Neuberger in 1980. The couple divorced in 1987.

In 1991, she married Benjamin Netanyahu. They have two sons, Yair and Avner. In 2010, Avner won the International Bible Contest on the national level, and came in third place on the international level.

Controversy

Sara and Benjamin Netanyahu at the grave of Benjamin Netanyahu's brother Yonatan Netanyahu in 1997

Netanyahu has received much media attention, usually negative in tone and focusing on poor interpersonal relations. She won a libel case filed against Schocken publishers for falsely maligning her, and a libel suit in 2002 against the local paper Kol Ha'ir, after two unfounded reports were published about her in the paper's gossip column. In 2008, Channel 10 reported that when she travelled to London with her husband for a public diplomacy campaign during the 2006 Lebanon War, she spent a large sum of money on luxuries paid for by a donor in London. In response Netanyahu filed a libel suit against the channel. As her trip had not been approved by the Knesset's Ethics Committee, her husband was notified by the committee.

In January 2010, the family housekeeper sued Netanyahu in a labor court for withholding wages, unfair working conditions and verbal abuse. Netanyahu was sued as of March 2014 by another caretaker and former bodyguard to the family over claims that she was abusive towards him. In February 2016, the Jerusalem Labor Court ruled in favor of plaintiff Meni Naftali, who claimed that Sara Netanyahu had created a hostile work environment and awarded him damages of NIS 170,000. The National Labor Court subsequently rejected her appeal.

In 2015, reports surfaced that she had ordered catered meals and charged the government nearly $100,000 for the expenses when the Prime Minister's Office already employed a cook. Police recommended indicting her in 2016. On September 8, 2017, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced that Netanyahu would be charged with ordering meals at the state’s expense without authorization. On 17 January 2018, the pre-indictment hearing was held. Netanyahu's lawyers met with Mandelblit, while she herself did not attend, breaking with usual custom. After negotiations for a plea bargain collapsed, the trial was set for July 19. Netanyahu's lawyers argued that the meals were ordered by an assistant for visiting dignitaries.

On 16 June 2019, Netanyahu signed a plea deal and was convicted of misusing state funds, with the more severe charge of fraud being dropped. She was ordered to pay 55,000 NIS ($15,275) to the state.

During a visit to a Portuguese memorial to the victims of the Inquisition, Netanyahu stated that her family is also facing an inquisition.

See also

References

  1. Hackett, Kevin. "Newsmaker: Sara Netanyahu". The National. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
  2. ^ Curriculum Vitae - Sara Netanyahu (retrieved 2019-04-05), Archived 2011-10-08 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Sara Netanyahu's Ex-husband to 'tell All' in Planned Book - Jewish Telegraphic Agency". www.jta.org. 10 October 1996.
  4. "ynet שרה נתניהו זכתה בתביעת פיצויים נגד "כל העיר" - חדשות". ynet.
  5. גולן, מתי (August 2002). "לשרה נתניהו יש אומץ לב". Globes.
  6. מרנדה, אמנון (15 March 2008). "ynet פנייה למזוז: חקור מי מימן הוצאות נתניהו בלונדון - חדשות". Ynetnews (in Hebrew). Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  7. "Netanyahu" (PDF). nrg.co.il.
  8. "News1 - תביעה: בנימין נתניהו נ' חדשות ערוץ 10". www.news1.co.il.
  9. "חדשות - פוליטי/מדיני nrg - ...ועדת האתיקה: נסיעת שרה נתניהו". www.nrg.co.il.
  10. כהן, גילי (1 September 2011). "תלונה נגד שרה נתניהו על העסקת המטפלת של אביה בתנאי עבדות". Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  11. Tait, Robert (20 March 2014), "Netanyahus sued by former caretaker over 'racist and physical abuse'", The Telegraph
  12. Yahav, Telem (10 January 2016). "Meni Naftali wins partial verdict in Netanyahu lawsuit". Ynetnews. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  13. Dreazen, Yochi (21 June 2018). "The wife of Israel's prime minister was just indicted for fraud". Vox. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  14. Jeremy Bob, Yonah (20 April 2017). "Prosecution leaning toward indicting Sara Netanyahu". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  15. Israel, David (8 September 2017). "AG: Sara Netanyahu to Be Charged with Fraudulently Receiving $100,000". Jewish Press. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  16. Jeremy Bob, Yonah (8 September 2017). "Attorney-General: Sara Netanyahu likely to be indicted for fraud". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  17. Hovel, Revital (4 April 2018). "Attorney General Meets Sara Netanyahu's Lawyers Prior to Issuing Indictment". Haaretz. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  18. Jeremy Bob, Yonah (21 June 2018). "Sara Netanyahu indicted for falsely charging state $100k for meals". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  19. Hovel, Revital (23 June 2018). "Sara Netanyahu Charged With Fraud for Ordering $96k Worth of Meals From Gourmet Chefs". Haaretz. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  20. Jeremy Bob, Yonah (26 June 2018). "Sara Netanyahu trial to start July 19". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  21. "Sara Netanyahu's fraud and breach of trust trial begins in Jerusalem". The Guardian. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  22. "Sara Netanyahu convicted of misusing state funds, says she's 'suffered enough'". The Times of Israel. 16 June 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  23. Yerushalmi, Shalom (5 December 2019). "Sara Netanyahu at Lisbon memorial: My family is suffering an inquisition too". The imes of Israel. Retrieved 7 December 2019.

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