Ex-household employee alleges he was routinely humiliated, with the complaint following years of similar accusations
Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly humiliated and abused a former household worker, at one point calling him an “undeveloped Moroccan,” a new lawsuit claims. The controversy adds to a years-long trail of remarkably similar allegations, painting a picture of intolerable conditions at the residence.
On Tuesday, Ynet reported that Rami Ben-Hamo, who worked at the residence from 2023 to 2025, is seeking 450,000 shekels ($150,000) in a lawsuit filed with the Jerusalem Regional Labor Court. While the complaint has been formally filed against the Prime Minister’s Office, the alleged abuse is overwhelmingly attributed to Sara Netanyahu.
According to Ben-Hamo, he sometimes worked from around 7:30 AM until the early hours of the following morning, clocking 60 to 80 hours of overtime a month. He claims to have “suffered extreme abuse” from the prime minister’s wife, adding that she made him clean her handbag and the soles of her shoes, repeatedly wash his hands between tasks, and endure screaming and humiliation when cleaning or household chores were not performed exactly as she wanted.
At one point, Netanyahu allegedly called him an “undeveloped Moroccan,” declaring: “I am the prime minister’s wife. You will do what I tell you.” Ben-Hamo claims the ethnic insult was repeated and that he sometimes had to beg her in tears to stop.
The complaint also alleges that Ben-Hamo was kept at work after the start of Shabbat – the weekly Jewish day of rest between Friday and Saturday evenings – despite Netanyahu knowing he observed the tradition. After suffering a cardiac event at work and undergoing catheterization in 2025, Ben-Hamo says her treatment of him became even harsher.
When Ben-Hamo wrote a resignation notice, saying he wanted to leave because of the mistreatment, the Prime Minister’s Office “refused to accept this note and demanded that the plaintiff change the wording so that it said he wanted to leave for personal reasons.”
Netanyahu’s office dismissed the allegations as “fake news,” calling it a politically motivated “witch-hunt” ahead of the October elections.
However, the recent controversy fits a pattern of strikingly similar grievances about Sara Netanyahu. Just several weeks ago, former residence worker Yehiel Ohev-Ami, 61, sued her for 300,000 shekels ($100,000), claiming that Netanyahu repeatedly insulted and yelled at him, and “once ordered him to clean the kitchen floor while crawling.”
In addition, Netanyahu allegedly wished him cancer and death after Ohev-Ami went out on a smoke break, and even “diagnosed” him with autism. The prime minister’s office has denied the accusations.
In May, Israeli media reported that another former employee reached a settlement with her staffing company after alleging repeated humiliation, including an incident in which Sara Netanyahu threw olives and tomatoes at her during breakfast.
In 2016, a Jerusalem labor court awarded former residence caretaker Meni Naftali 170,000 shekels ($57,000) after accepting his claims that Sara Netanyahu’s fostered “abusive employment conditions,” including verbal insults and unreasonable demands.
According to multiple media reports, Sara Netanyahu – a psychologist by training – enjoys immense political influence and essentially has veto powers on appointments to key positions. Earlier this month, former chief of staff Yoav Horowitz suggested that in terms of politics, “Sara Netanyahu and Bibi Netanyahu are one; it’s impossible to separate between them.”
