Israeli prosecutors confirmed on Thursday that they are conducting a criminal investigation of Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged witness tampering and obstructing judicial proceedings in 2019.
The prosecutors confirmed the existence of the probe to opposition lawmaker Naama Lazimi of The Democrats party, Ynet reported Sunday. The investigation concerns reports that Mrs. Netanyahu had ordered an employee to harass or malign a witness in her husband’s corruption trial.
To many critics of Netanyahu, the probe against his wife is a fresh indication of a pattern of abuse of power. To the couple’s many advocates, it is indicative of a vendetta they believe is being waged against them in the media and the State Attorney’s office.
Uvda, the flagship investigative journalism program of Israel’s Channel 12, in December, reported that Sara Netanyahu ordered a subordinate to “aggressively go after” the former secretary of billionaire Arnon Milchan, a witness against the prime minister.
“We need to go aggressively after Hadas Klein, Arnon Milchan’s secretary, who has been slandering us for years, lying, maligning and acting unconscionably’,” Sara Netanyahu wrote in a text message to the subordinate, according to Uvda.
Uvda is not cooperating with police in the investigation, and has not divulged the evidence for the text message, according to Ynet.
Sara Netanyahu has said that nothing in the Uvda exposé proves or indicates witness tampering and that the show was an attempt at character assassination.
Benjamin Netanyahu called it an attempted political persecution. He has denied all allegations attributed to him in his ongoing trial on bribery and breach-of-trust charges.
