Israeli man indicted for 'online sexual harassment' of Sara Netanyahu

Israeli man indicted for 'online sexual harassment' of Sara Netanyahu
An Israeli man who sent sexual tweets about Sara Netanyahu, the former prime minister's wife, has been charged with sexual harassment.
2 min read
05 December, 2021
Benjamin Netanyahu shared the post about his wife with his followers online [Getty]

An Israeli man has been charged for tweeting sexually explicit messages about the Sara Netanyahu, according to Haaretz

According to the details of indictment, the 55-year-old man, named as Boaz Drori, posted messages that suggested he wished to sexually assault the former prime minster’s wife with "Jewish power and Zionist determination", because of his "patriotism". 

The legal filling said that Drori’s actions "amounts to sexual harassment of Mrs. Sara Netanyahu, since he referred to her in a degrading or humiliating manner in relation to her gender or sexuality".

In his defence, an attorney questioned why it was an indictable offence to make a "rude joke" about a public figure. 

He also questioned why former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would have take a screenshot of the "joke" and posted it to his page, where over a million people follow him. 

"It is strange that a publication that bothers Sara Netanyahu on the page of a few individual followers is shared by her husband on the page of a million followers. If the publicity was disturbing her husband would not share it on a page with such a large circulation," defence attorney Guy Ofir said.

The attorney went on to claim that the filing of the indictment was political motivated, and sought to create publicity. 

It is not common for Israelis to be indicted for social media posts that are sexually offensive. 

Sara Netanyahu and her husband have most recently been occupied fighting corruption charges. The couple have been accused of illicitly receiving lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

In one instance, Sara is alleged to have received a bracelet worth $45,000.