Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife, Sara Netanyahu, testified on Monday morning at the Jerusalem Regional Labor Court, as part of a compensation lawsuit filed against her by a former cleaner at the Prime Minister's Residence, Sylvie Genesia.
Genesia is also suing the employment company that employed her. In the lawsuit, Genesia is demanding 650,000 shekels from Sara Netanyahu and the company for the abuse she allegedly endured as an employee at the Prime Minister's residence.
Netanyahu claimed that she had not read the affidavit in which the allegations against her are presented, but that "there is not a single word of truth in it."
During the hearing, Genesia's lawyer said to Netanyahu, "Sylvia claimed that you called her names." Netanyahu responded: "It's all lies."
"I wasn't her employer, I didn't pay her a salary, I wasn't involved in setting her salary terms. She committed to confidentiality and privacy for the place she worked at and she has violated it. She shouldn’t have gone around talking about the flights, the robes, etc. This is our private lives and she talked about. That’s immoral in my opinion."
At a certain point in the testimony, the hearing was interrupted, when a window cleaner roped down and began cleaning the windows outside the courtroom. At that point Netanyahu and her lawyer, Yossi Cohen, refused to continue the hearing.
Netanyahu noted the decades in which the media has been "celebrating" at her expense and defaming her, saying, "I've been dealing with these accusations for thirty years, and since then anyone who wants to make a profit on me has made these claims, but I'm also a human being and I can no longer tolerate this attitude."
"I don't get angry that much about facts, and I try not to get angry about facts. I'm already know that this is going to go to the media."