Netanyahu defamation trial is as shocking as Amber Heard v. Johnny Depp

It’s Israel’s meshugana version of the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial.

Not only does the libel case against Ehud Olmert pit two former prime ministers screaming at each other in a Tel Aviv courtroom — it also highlights the explosive temper tantrums, alleged bullying, and lavish spending of Sara Netanyahu, the much-maligned former first lady.

Israeli daily Haaretz described Sunday’s epic 13-hour marathon in Tel Aviv’s Magistrate’s Court as “nauseating and horrifying” while a columnist for the Jerusalem Post said it erased “any lingering vestiges of decorum” that Israel’s leaders once possessed.

In addition to Sara, Olmert is being sued by Benjamin Netanyahu and their eldest son Yair Netanyahu for libel after Olmert called the entire family mentally ill and “in need of psychiatric treatment” last year.

Olmert, Israel’s prime minister between 2006 and 2009 who was convicted of corruption in 2014, refuses to back down even as he faces more than $260,000 in damages if he loses. Among Olmert’s defense witnesses is Miriam Adelson, Israel’s richest woman and the widow of billionaire philanthropist and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Court documents suggest that Adelson is a witness to “behaviors and expressions” that led her to believe that the Netanyahus suffered from “mental disorders.”

In February, the court rejected a request by Olmert for the Netanyahus to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

“It’s not like any of this is surprising Israelis,” said an observer who did not want to be identified for fear of being sued by the Netanyahus. “Everyone knows what the family is about, and their supporters simply don’t care. They would continue to vote Bibi back into office.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving leader, ended his latest term in office last year under a cloud. He is currently on trial for corruption in the Jerusalem District Court, but his support still remains strong among his base of conservative voters, according to reports.

On Sunday in court, Sara, a psychologist, denied rumors that she had been hospitalized at a mental asylum in Vienna last year, saying it was “a lie from start to finish.”

She also said that a 2009 tape of her screaming hysterically, which was played in court, was “cooked” and “manipulated” to make her look bad. In the tape, which was released in 2018, Sara can be heard berating a publicist for a gossip item that appeared about her in the Israeli press, detailing her fundraising efforts for a school her two sons once attended.

“I’m an educated woman!” she was recorded yelling at the publicist. “Psychologist! B.-A! M.-A! That’s it!”

In the recording, the publicist argues that her credentials are mentioned in the first line of the story, but Sara continues her rant. “This prime minister’s wife serves the public every day!” she shouts. “In her professional line of work!”

Sara has gotten into trouble for her alleged bullying and abusive and draconian behavior with employees during her husband’s 15 years as prime minister. Recently, Shira Raban, a cleaner who worked for a short time for the Netanyahus, claimed in court papers that she was subject to verbal abuse from Sara, who also allegedly forbade her to eat, drink or rest while at work and was required to change her clothes dozens of times a day.

Sara fought back in court against Raban in 2019, accusing the cleaner of attempting to blackmail and spy on the first family. “It’s so easy, when you’re not working, to sue Sara Netanyahu,” she said, according to the Times of Israel. “Shira Raban was in the residence as a mole — I have no doubt about this.” Sara also told the court that the media had been “trying with all its might to make claims against me.”

“They have demonized me for years; it is easy to throw everything at me,” she said. “What Raban is saying is a lie.”

Raban’s lawsuit was dismissed earlier this year.

Also in 2019, Sara was convicted of misusing state funds after she was accused of overspending $100,000 on lavish take-out meals while the prime minister’s office employed a chef. She was sentenced to pay a $15,000 fine.

Sara’s tirades had geopolitical ramifications, Uzi Arad, a witness for Olmert’s defense who had served as Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser, told the Tel Aviv court Sunday. He described an incident in which Benjamin Netanyahu left for a trip to Washington unprepared, and could not be briefed on the plane because he insisted on sitting with Sara the whole way. Arad said the situation prevented him from sharing any classified information with the former leader before a meeting with Robert Gates, the former US secretary of defense. The incident led to “a huge blowup” during which the Pentagon cut ties with Israel for two months, according to the New York Times.

In addition to Sara, the Netanyahus’ eldest son Yair, 30, has been accused of trying to influence and bully his father when he was prime minister. Nir Hefetz, a former spokesman for the family who is also a state witness in Benjamin’s corruption trial, testified that Yair, a columnist and podcast host, once burst into a meeting that his father was having with other officials, and got down on all fours and began wagging his tongue in a show of contempt for his dad, who he felt was sucking up to those in the meeting.

“He’s like his mother on steroids,” said the observer. “They control the father.”

During this month’s court proceedings, Yair Netanyahu managed to denigrate a host of Israeli politicians, at one point referring to former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak as a “demented psychopath.” When asked whether current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett required psychiatric hospitalization, Yair Netanyahu responded: “Bennett is a megalomaniac.”

Like his mother, Yair has been caught in embarrassing situations on tape. In a secret recording in 2015, Yair is heard demanding the equivalent of $100 from a friend outside a strip club, and looking for prostitutes.

“Speaking of whores, what is open at this hour?” he asks on the tape which was released to the press in 2018.

Yair later apologized, saying in part, “In a night-time conversation, under the influence of alcohol, I said nasty things about women and other things that should not have been said. These things don’t represent the person I am, the values I was educated on and what I believe.”

Adelson, who has been called to testify against the family, allegedly broke off her friendship with the couple after enduring Sara’s “screams on the phone,” according to transcripts leaked from one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trials.

“At first she [Sara Netanyahu] was very nice,” said Adelson, according to court papers published by the Times of Israel. “Impressive. An intelligent woman. And after that I don’t know what she was. You ask her what she expected from us. But slowly, slowly it became… only complaints. A picture of her [in an Israeli paper] was too small. They didn’t write about something — [her] visiting children with cancer or something … Always complaints. All the time … It started to be unpleasant … We would listen … listen and not answer. Out of respect for the prime minister and his wife.”