Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara were filmed dining at a non-kosher restaurant in London over Shabbat, leading to criticism from opposition figures.

In a short clip filmed Friday night, the couple can be seen at Gordon Ramsey’s River Restaurant at the Savoy Hotel in the British capital, where they are staying.

A piece of lobster can be seen on the plate of the diner who filmed the video.

“There is no limit to Netanyahu’s hypocrisy: He eats in a non-kosher restaurant and then runs home to vote for the hametz law,” opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on Twitter.

Lapid was referring to a controversial bill that would allow hospital directors to ban leavened bread from their institutions during Passover. The proposal, pushed by Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies, would bypass a 2021 High Court ruling that hospitals may not legally prohibit people from bringing in hametz during the weeklong Jewish holiday.

“The country is burning and the ‘royal’ couple eats at a Michelin restaurant on all of our dime,” Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky tweeted. The restaurant is listed in the Michelin Guide, but does not have a star.

Also noting the hametz bill, Malinovsky accused Netanyahu of “eating traif meat and seafood and afterward they will tell us that the government is restoring Judaism to the people. There is no limit to the hypocrisy!” It was not clear what the premier and his wife ate.

נתניהו ורעייתו במסעדת מלון סבוי בלונדון היום רגע לפני הפגנת הענק בישראל. ואיזה לובסטר ענק בפריים pic.twitter.com/ChE6yOWh6V

— בר שם-אור Bar Shem-Ur (@Bar_ShemUr) March 25, 2023

Meanwhile, around 20 protesters gathered outside the hotel in London on Saturday, ahead of planned mass protests in Israel against the government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system.

“The whole world knows that Bibi is a criminal,” the protesters chanted, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

כ 20 ישראלים מפגינים בשבת מול המלון של נתניהו בלונדון שצופה על התמזה. המפגינים שורקים במשרוקיות וצועקים קריאות "אוי ואבוי ביבי בסאבוי" ו"כל העולם יודע שביבי הוא פושע". המפגינים סיפרו שמדי פעם נראים אנשים מצלמים אותם מקומה גבוהה pic.twitter.com/BTMqX1qhvw

— Itamar Eichner (@itamareichner) March 25, 2023

Netanyahu’s visit to Britain has been largely overshadowed by domestic politics, with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stressing the importance of Israel “upholding democratic values” in their low-profile meeting on Friday, during which hundreds of Israeli and Jewish protesters chanted against the far-reaching plans to change the judiciary. Advertisement

While the Israeli readout of the meeting did not mention anything about the judicial overhaul that is dominating headlines about Israel around the world, the British readout noted that Sunak stressed to Netanyahu “the importance of upholding the democratic values that underpin our relationship, including in the proposed judicial reforms in Israel.”

The statement from 10 Downing Street also stressed “international concern at growing tensions in the West Bank,” and encouraged “all efforts to de-escalate, particularly ahead of the upcoming religious holidays.”

The meeting with Sunak appeared to be toned down and in an unusual move, there was no public address of any kind from the two leaders.

Sunak had faced pressure in recent days to publicly comment on Israel’s contentious judicial shakeup, leading to speculation that he chose to forgo any public comments with Netanyahu in order to avoid taking a stance.

During Netanyahu’s visit to Berlin last week, he and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz publicly sparred during a press conference over the government’s continued push of legislation that will greatly expand political control over Israel’s courts.

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Netanyahu dines at non-kosher restaurant in London over Shabbat

19 3
25.03.2023

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara were filmed dining at a non-kosher restaurant in London over Shabbat, leading to criticism from opposition figures.

In a short clip filmed Friday night, the couple can be seen at Gordon Ramsey’s River Restaurant at the Savoy Hotel in the British capital, where they are staying.

A piece of lobster can be seen on the plate of the diner who filmed the video.

“There is no limit to Netanyahu’s hypocrisy: He eats in a non-kosher restaurant and then runs home to vote for the hametz law,” opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on Twitter.

Lapid was referring to a controversial bill that would allow hospital directors to ban leavened bread from their institutions during Passover. The proposal, pushed by Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies, would bypass a 2021 High Court ruling that hospitals may not legally prohibit people from bringing in hametz during the weeklong Jewish holiday.

“The country is burning and the ‘royal’ couple eats at a Michelin restaurant on all of our dime,” Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky tweeted. The restaurant is listed in the Michelin Guide, but does not have a star.

Also noting the hametz bill, Malinovsky accused Netanyahu of “eating traif meat and........

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