Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife, Sara, said Wednesday that the growing violence shown by protesters outside the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem had made her fear for her own safety as well as her family's wellbeing.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have been staging weekly protests in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other major cities across Israel demanding that the prime minister resigns over his policies and handling the coronavirus crisis and saying he should not remain in office while on trial for corruption charges.
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In a rare interview with Channel 12 News, the prime minister's wife said, "I am a battered woman and my children are battered."
Tuesday saw Netanyahu file a police complaint about death threats made against her in one of the protests, as well as a complaint about sexual harassment by a Twitter user.
"There are hooligans and anarchists who shout 'death to Bibi and Sara,'" she said of the protesters. "My protection detail is relatively small and remember – I'm out of the house a lot. In one of the protests, demonstrators tried throwing torches at the house. They broke a police detective's legs."
Netanyahu said she wouldn't wish the fear her family experiences over the death threats made against them on anyone.
"They [the protesters] go into great detail about how they plan to kill us, how they will dismember my children. These are horrific things. I didn't hear anybody condemning that. People are going to die," she warned.
"I condemn any violence on the Right. I don't want to hear calls such as 'death to Arabs' or 'death to leftists." Most right-wing demonstrators protest in an orderly fashion, with slogans and flags. I can hear them. If there is a rogue minority – the prime minister and I condemn it."
Commenting on the sexual harassment complaint she filed, Netanyahu said that a senior female police officer arrived at the Prime Minister's Residence to discuss the issue with her, saying, "I clearly feel that I have been sexually harassed and this is how people who file sexual harassment complaints should be treated."
She further criticized the center-left lawmakers for failing to condemn the lewd sexual comments launched at her during protests and on social media.
"I also haven't heard [Defense Minister Benny] Gantz or [Foreign Minister Gabi] Ashkenazi condemn the sexual violence against me, and I would expect MKs who profess to champion women's rights, such as Merav Michaeli [Labor] and Tamar Zandberg [Meretz] to speak up."
Netanyahu slammed the media for what she called "pushing false narratives" about the prime minister and their family while seemingly ignoring scandals involving opposition lawmakers.
"What is this hypocrisy? End the shaming against me, my husband, and his children. In the end, we are people and we also have souls," she said.
Netanyahu went on to deny rumors that her health was failing, calling them "fake news." She stressed that observing coronavirus directives prompted her to cancel many official engagements, which is why she has been relatively absent from the public eye.
The interview vexed women's rights groups, who said that the way the prime minister's wife used terms such as "battered," "abused" and "harassed," was callous.
Hagit Pe'er, head of the Naamat women's rights organization, stated, "Mrs. Netanyahu is not a battered woman. This is a cheapening of the concept and Mrs. Netanyahu, who has visited women's shelters in the past, knows this," she told Channel 12 News.
The Kulan feminist advocacy group, tweeted, "Sara Netanyahu is not a battered woman, period. The choice by the Netanyahus to cynically exploit the fight against domestic violence makes us despair.
"Women's organizations, which are fighting to protect all women, have become a punching bag for the prime minister, who has been ignoring our outcry for years. The Netanyahu family will not be the ones to teach us that violent misogyny is a terrible plight against which we must fight."
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