La parano, politique d’Israël et du couple Netanyahou

La parano, politique d’Israël et du couple Netanyahou

La paranoïa d’Israël sous la direction de Netanyahou est un fait qui commence à être documenté (voir par exemple notre Bloc-Notes du 31 août 2009). Un élément nouveau apparaît, sans changer le fond du constat: le rôle de l’épouse (la troisième dans l'ordre) du Premier ministre israélien, à laquelle ce dernier serait complètement “soumis”.

Le comportement de Sara Netanyahou, dénoncée dans un article de Haaretz, prend des dimensions juridiques avec des plaintes d’employés de maison déposées contre elle, et une riposte également juridique du couple. Mais, surtout, il y a la précision, dans un article de The Independent de ce 27 janvier 2010, que le rôle et l’influence de Sara Netanyahou s’étendent jusqu’aux questions de sécurité nationale.

«It's been a taxing time for Benjamin Netanyahu. He has had to soothe fears of a possible war with Lebanon. He has made an uncompromising statement about the future of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. And then, of course, there's the knotty matter of his wife's domestic arrangements and the employees she is accused of bullying.

»First, an Israeli newspaper revealed in a front-page story that Sara Netanyahu's former housekeeper, Lillian Peretz, was filing suit for £50,000 damages from her ex-employer for “humiliating” her and paying her less than the minimum wage. Try as she did to brush the allegations off, the first lady could not make them go away.

»Then, as if her reputation weren't in enough trouble, another publication claimed that Mrs Netanyahu had fired “an elderly Jew, about 70, a bereaved father who used to rake leaves and carry out basic gardening chores for less than the minimum wage”. To fire a man whose son died fighting for his country would be considered harsh anywhere. But in Israel, where society's identification with fallen soldiers and their parents is at the very core of its identity, what Ms Netanyahu stands accused of doing is regarded as unspeakably cruel.

»Now the Netanyahu family is fighting back, with a £167,000 lawsuit for defamation against the newspaper concerned, Maariv. The problem is that it may all be too late. For accurate or not, a monstrous picture has emerged in recent weeks of how the child psychologist and former airline stewardess, the third wife of the hardline Prime Minister, handles her domestic staff. And some commentators, particularly those who also dislike her husband, say this is not just an Israeli take-off of Upstairs, Downstairs but a risk to the public's well-being and even national security.

»They charge that Sara Netanyahu determines appointments of government officials and meddles in affairs of state – something her spokesman denies. Mr Netanyahu, for his part, is being depicted as deferring to his wife. “He's there to satisfy her, not to work for us,” Maariv's Ben Caspit, one of Israel's most prominent journalists, alleged yesterday in response to the lawsuit.

»The gardener allegations would have far less traction, of course, without the previous stories about the house- keeper, which first appeared in Yediot Ahronot newspaper. Ms Peretz, who worked at the Netanyahu's weekend residence in posh Caesarea, made a serious allegation against the first lady: that she forced her to work on Saturdays even though the employee observes the Jewish command not to work on the sabbath...»

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