The so-called "takeout meals" scandal around Sara Netanyahu should not have us lose any sleep. This "affair," which revolves around the question of whether the prime minister's wife failed to properly pay for gourmet food deliveries, pales in comparison to the corrupting influence of the mainstream media on our discourse.
Under the guise of an anti-corruption campaign, the Israeli Left wants all of us to be obsessed with the latest gossip on the Prime Minister's Residence, to lose the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, and to blur the distinction between proper public oversight and a vicious witch hunt against the family members of a political adversary.
As far as the Left is concerned, the end justifies the mean. Vile rhetoric is now a worthy value, with two protagonists leading the charge and preaching us morality: left-wing activity Eldad Yaniv and the former superintendent at the Prime Minister's Residence, Meni Naftali.
Anyone who reads the indictment against Sara Netanyahu objectively would come to the conclusion that it is legally flawed, deals with petty accusations and, in light of previous precedents, is unfair. If takeout meals valued at 350,000 shekels ($98,000) are worthy of thousands of hours of news broadcasts, how can we justify the tens of millions of shekels worth of wasteful spending under left-wing premierships?
Two cases show that, according to the Left, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family must be subject to a different set of rules and regulations.
In 2015, the State Comptroller's Office released a scathing report on former President Shimon Peres' expenses. That damning report showed that the President's Residence systematically overspent its budget by an average of about 20%, resulting in special supplemental funding worth tens of millions. But no one has heard of this, and not a single police investigation has been launched on the matter.
What about prime ministers from the Left? Surprise, surprise: They too have been treated with kid gloves by the press despite troubling findings.
Israel Hayom reporter Akiva Bigman shed some light on the expenses of both Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert while in office.
It turns out that Olmert spent some 30,000 shekels ($8,300) on takeout from a Jerusalem hotel to celebrate Passover, almost half the total expenses for takeout under the Netanyahus in 2010. Sharon in 2001 ordered takeout worth some 12,500 shekels ($3,400) from a Jerusalem hotel to the Prime Minister's Residence, and additional "snacks for hosting purposes at his ranch" worth some 8,000 shekels ($2,210). Thus, 20,000 shekels ($5,500) in three months.
What about the expense accounts for the widows of deceased presidents? Reuma Weizman, widow of President Ezer Weizman, and Ora Herzog, widow of President Chaim Herzog, have their lifestyles funded to a large extent by the state every year.
These expenses include 223,000 shekels ($62,700) for a driver, 97,000 shekels ($27,000) for house maintenance, 6,000 shekels ($1,600) for a phone line, 100,000 shekels($28,000) for housing in assisted living facilities, and 19,000 shekels ($5,200) for various other expenses.
I believe such funding is perfectly fine, but that is beside the point. What is infuriating is that the media refuses to look at the big picture and insists on scrutinizing how much dry-cleaning the Netanyahus ordered.
Here is another statistic: Two years ago, Likud was polling at 25 Knesset seats. Now, after months of media coverage on so-called scandals involving everything from champagne to furniture, Likud is polling at 35 seats. The media-led campaign aimed at destroying Netanyahu has hurt everyone but Netanyahu. His standing has increased immeasurably.
For the Israeli public, this witch hunt has shown that Israel is undergoing a severe crisis of corruption and abuse of power, but not in the Prime Minister's Residence. The crisis, it turns out, is in the media and the Israel Police.
