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WORLD NEWS Friday 28 February 2020

Ex-housekeeper sues Israeli PM’s wife over abusive behavior

By ARON HELLER she's been traumatized by treatment and harassment.
Associated Press her experience. Everyone Another pending lawsuit
JERUSALEM (AP) — A for- knew what was going on alleges she forbade a for-
mer housekeeper at Israeli there, and no one can say mer staffer to eat or drink
Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- otherwise." on the job and required
tanyahu's official residence Sara Netanyahu has been her to change her clothes
is suing the leader's wife accused of abusive be- dozens of times a day. The
Sara for pain and suffer- havior toward her personal plaintiff, who is also seeking
ing allegedly caused dur- staff before. This, together damages, says Sara Netan-
ing her employment there, with accusations of ex- yahu also required her to
the housekeeper's attorney cessive spending and us- wash her hands dozens of
said Thursday. ing public money on her times a day and dry them
Opheer Shimson says his cli- own extravagant personal with a towel separate from
ent is demanding $190,000 tastes, has earned her an the one used by the Netan-
in damages for the abuse image as the Israeli Imelda yahu family,
from Sara Netanyahu. He Marcos, the Philippines' for- The Netanyahus have an- Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, greets Israeli Prime
said the woman, an immi- mer first lady who became grily rejected all the charg- Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sara, left, as Israeli Prime
grant from France in her infamous for her massive es, calling them part of a Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands at centre, prior to their talks
mid-50s and a mother of collection of designer media-orchestrated cam- in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020.
Associated Press
five who wished to keep shoes. paign against the family to
her identity secret, worked Last year, Sara Netanyahu oust them from power. to die, the problem is that that Sara Netanyahu ac-
at the residence for five was convicted of misus- Israel heads to the polls I don't have any choice cused her of trying to cause
months until last November, ing state funds after she next week for its third elec- and everyone knows that," friction with the prime minis-
when she was injured from reached a plea bargain tion in less than a year. Two reads one of his client's en- ter.
a fall caused by what he settling allegations that she weeks later, Benjamin Ne- tries, which was first pub- "She said to me: 'What do
described as Sara Netan- overspent some $100,000 tanyahu goes on trial for lished on Israel's Channel you want? For me to be like
yahu's tyrannical demands. of state money on lav- charges of bribery, fraud 12 news. "It's impossible to you, divorced?'" she wrote.
He said the woman, a ish meals. She'd previously and breach of trust stem- live every day with a psy- "Even the prime minister
staunch supporter of the been indicted for graft, ming from accusations chopath. I'm dying to leave told her to stop. She was in
prime minister, kept a diary fraud and breach of trust. he accepted lavish gifts before it's too late." a trance. In the afternoon
detailing the verbal abuse In 2016, a court ruled the from billionaire friends and In another entry, she said she had a fit, lay down on
she endured from his wife. prime minister's wife mis- promised to promote ad- Sara Netanyahu screamed the ground, screamed and
"She adores the prime min- treated a housekeeper vantageous legislation for at her for forgetting to screamed like a lunatic,
ister and saw her work at and awarded the man a major newspaper in ex- throw out the garbage, and shook with rage. She
his home as a form of na- $42,000 in damages. Sev- change for favorable cov- called her stupid and dirty rolled around on the floor,
tional service," Shimson told eral other employees have erage. and demanded she take a and said that all of that was
The Associated Press. "But accused her of abuse, mis- "Enough, save me, I want shower. The woman wrote because of me." q

Lebanon begins ‘historic’ offshore oil

drilling amid crisis

By ZEINA KARAM
Associated Press
Beirut (AP) — Lebanon's
president Thursday inaugu-
rated the Mediterranean
country's first offshore ex-
ploratory drilling for oil and
gas, calling it a "historic
day" for the cash-strapped
country. Michel Aoun
spoke aboard the drill ship
Tungsten Explorer, which
will be conducting the drill-
ing operations of the first
exploration well, located
approximately 30 kilome- In this photo released by Lebanon's official government pho-
ters (18 miles) offshore from tographer Dalati Nohra, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, fore-
the capital Beirut. ground, and Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, background
"Today is a happy day for us left, walk aboard the drilling ship Tungsten Explorer.
and for all Lebanese, and Associated Press
we hope the dream we've public debt. The limits have lion or more than 150% of
all imagined is realized to- prompted protests against the country's GDP. Teeter-
day. It is a historic day," the financial institutions — ing on economic and fi-
he said. The ceremony at including violent attacks on nancial collapse, the Leb-
sea contrasted sharply with ATM machines and some anese government is now
Lebanon's crippling finan- bank branches. Lebanon considering whether to pay
cial and economic crisis, has one of the highest debt or default on its $1.2 billion
including a deepening li- to GDP ratios in the world, Eurobond debt, which ma-
quidity crunch and soaring standing at about $87 bil- tures next month. q