The attorney general and chief prosecutor urged police on Thursday to investigate Sara Netanyahu, after an investigative report last week indicated she had sought to intimidate a witness and interfere in the corruption case against her husband, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The announcement, which the prime minister’s allies were quick to condemn, came hours after the premier himself posted a four-minute video tirade against the media for spreading a “blood libel” about his wife.
In a brief statement that didn’t mention Sara Netanyahu by name, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman said she should be investigated on suspicion of witness harassment and obstruction of justice.
The statement cited the report, aired by Channel 12’s “Uvda” program on December 20, which indicated that Sara Netanyahu had ordered Hanni Bleiweiss, her husband’s late aide, to orchestrate protests and an online campaign against Hadas Klein, a key witness in one of the prime minister’s corruption cases.
The exposé relied on internal communications between Netanyahu and Bleiweiss. The latter died of cancer in 2023, and the investigative program gained access to her phone.
Klein was among dozens of people who filed police complaints against Netanyahu following the report.
Channel 12 news reported Thursday that the planned investigation into Sara Netanyahu would be handled by Lahav 433, the police’s serious crimes unit. A police source cited by Haaretz said law enforcement would seek access to Bleiweiss’s phone, and possibly also Netanyahu’s. The source was cited saying Netanyahu will likely be interrogated, but not in the short term.
Hadas Klein arrives at a court hearing in the trial against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the Jerusalem District Court, July 19, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
According to Haaretz, Aisman and Baharav-Miara had both discussed the potential probe into Netanyahu due to her high public profile, and both supported the move. The outlet also said a police officer tasked with reviewing the “Uvda” report has also supported opening an investigation.
The premier’s allies raged at the news, which was welcomed by the critics of the government.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who recently clashed with other ministers over their failure to oust Baharav-Miara, accused her of political persecution against Sara Netanyahu.
“Whoever politically persecutes government ministers and their families, can’t continue serving as attorney general,” he said, bemoaning the fact that Baharav-Miara’s ouster was not on the agenda for Sunday’s cabinet meeting.
“It’s too bad there are still those burying their heads in the ground and refusing to understand that,” he added — apparently a reference to Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
Members of the right-wing government, including Levin, have waged a monthlong campaign to fire Baharav-Miara. Leaders of the coalition parties have already agreed to go ahead with such a move, but have entrusted its precise timing to Levin, who prefers to prioritize other aspects of the government’s judicial overhaul.
Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara attends the funeral of former Judge Elisheva Barak-Ussoskin at the Kiryat Shaul Cemetery in Tel Aviv, December 11, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Levin himself slammed the attorney general and state attorney’s order to investigate Sara Netanyahu, writing on Telegram that “selective enforcement has reared its ugly head once again.”
The justice minister said that instead of probing “gossip on TV,” the attorney general and state attorney should investigate critics of the government who have urged IDF reservists to refuse to serve and threatened Police Commissioner Daniel Levy — whom, the “Uvda” report alleged, Sara Netanyahu had sought to encourage for using violence against anti-government protesters when he was Tel Aviv police chief.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana made a similar accusation, claiming Baharav-Miara was “lazy and afflicted by blindness, deafness and muteness when it comes to [probes against] her political side,” adding: “Wishing her a quick recovery.”
Former MK Shirley Pinto, the only deaf lawmaker in the Knesset’s history, reacted on X: “What did we learn today? That it is okay to take one person’s disability and use it to insult another person.”
Naama Lazimi, a Labor lawmaker whose office collected police complaints against Sara Netanyahu following the “Uvda” report, praised the move to probe the premier’s wife.
“Thank you to the many citizens who sent police complaints on the matter,” wrote Lazimi on X. “We won’t give up until justice is done — until Israel escapes the chokehold of this family and the poison machine around it.”
Along with the alleged witness intimidation, the “Uvda” report found that Sara Netanyahu had orchestrated a protest outside the home of a neighboring family whose fighter pilot son had been killed in combat, after it let anti-government protesters use their home for a demonstration; encouraged police officers who used violence against anti-government protesters; and mistreated Bleiweiss.
Bleiweiss’s family will reportedly file a lawsuit against the Netanyahus, claiming harassment and abuse.
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