A
court in Jerusalem has found that the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu humiliated and degraded a government caretaker in her home and
has awarded the worker 80,000 shekels, or about $20,500, for emotional
distress.
The
court also ruled that the worker, Menachem Naftali, was tricked by an employee
in the Prime Minister's office into believing he would get a permanent
position. And for that misrepresentation, the court awarded Naftali 75,000
shekels, or about $19,200.
The
ruling gave a damning description of the behavior of Sara Netanyahu.
Prime
Minister cleared of libel allegation
"Much
evidence was brought before the court that pointed to the fact that there were
harmful conditions of work because of the behavior of Mrs. Netanyahu and her
relations to the workers," the judgment said. "These included
exaggerated demands, degradation, humiliation and expression of outrage. The
workers were also called upon to work many, extraordinary hours. Because of
that the turnover of workers in the (house of the) PM was very high and there
was always a chronic shortage of manpower. The need for specialized services
does not justify harmful employment."
Naomi
Landau, a lawyer for Naftali, called the decision historic.
"Now
there is a decision saying that Mrs. Netanyahu really abused, violated, bullied
her employees," Landau said. "It is 40 pages of 'I Accuse.' "
Contacted
by CNN, the office of the Prime Minister had no comment on the judgment.
Naftali
also sued Benjamin Netanyahu for libel, but the court rejected the allegations
against the Prime Minister, saying the remarks Netanyahu made in a television
interview were general and did not target him in particular.
No comments:
Post a Comment