Sergeant Yair Netanyahu will pay a heavy price for his longing for home cooking. Yedioth Acharonot reports that the Prime Minister’s son got 21 days detention after abandoning the Friday night shift in his unit and going to dine with his family.
Netanyahu Jr., who serves in the international communications department of the IDF spokesperson’s unit, was assigned the weekend shift along with another soldier last week, but at some point decided to walk to his parents’ home in Rechavia, Jerusalem, not far from his unit, without permission. He was turned in by foreign journalists, who couldn’t reach him at his unit’s telephone and called his commander.
The commander, a Captain, conducted a surprise inspection to find out why his soldiers were not functioning. He looked for Yair Netanyahu, and the latter did not answer his cell phone, and settled for an SMS that said he had gone out for some food. The commander investigated some more, and found that the lad had been out for hours, and without permission, to boot. He was furious and informed Netanyahu that he would be court martialed.
Judgment Day came last Monday, when Netanyahu’s case was brought before the unit’s commanding officer, Colonel Avital Leibovich. He was tried on two counts of leaving his post without permission and on lying to his commanding officer. He was confined to his base for three weeks, but yesterday filed an appeal for forgiveness with the IDF Spokesperson. A source in the unit said that it was not Netanyahu’s first disciplinary incident.
As befits his father’s high post, Yair Netanyahu is the only enlisted man in the Army with his own security detail. At any given moment he is followed by one or two bodyguards. On the Friday night in question, his guards followed him home, but unlike their charge, they did not go on trial, since they acted within the confines of their duty.
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment.
