Israeli journalist and Knesset member Naama Lazimi (Democratic Party) shared a letter on X confirming that the Israeli police are conducting a criminal investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu. The letter, addressed to Lazimi, was made public on Sunday.

In the letter, the state attorney’s office responded to Lazimi’s demand to open an investigation against the prime minister’s wife, revealing that an investigation has been in progress since December 26. The investigation is being conducted by the national police force with the assistance of the cyber department of the state attorney’s office.

The letter revealed that the investigation was opened shortly after an exposé by Israeli Channel 12’s Uvda news program. The Uvda report revealed Sara Netanyahu’s history of threatening witnesses in her husband’s criminal prosecution, as well as threatening and inciting harassment against left-wing politicians. According to the report, Sara Netanyahu instructed a middleman politician, Hani Blivis, to threaten the state attorney who was prosecuting her husband, calling him and the witnesses of the prosecution “scum.” She also allegedly incited a riot against her bereaved leftist neighbors, the Farkash family, for hosting  protestors in their home, and told Blivis that they must “condemn the disgusting Farkash family, we must respond to the terrible things they do.” When reminded that they were grieving their son’s death, Netanyahu reportedly stated that she was not “stupid,” and she knew that their son had been killed fighting for Israel in the Lebanon conflict. 

Originally, the police dismissed Udva’s investigation as mere “gossip,” and though Netanyahu’s office did not comment on the investigation, his political party, Likud, sought to discredit Udva. They commented that Uvda is not a journalistic program but a tool to eliminate the right-wing government, using lies, recycled information, and anonymous testimonies.

Prime Minister Netanyahu faces corruption charges in three cases and stood trial in December 2024, where he denied his culpability, claiming that the charges were planned by Israeli media. He is also targeted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza.