A prime time show on Israel Army Radio, which falls under the authority of the defense minister, broadcast the following at the end of December: “I want the people of Israel to know that the elected prime minister, who is supposed to make decisions, protect our children and provide us with security, lives in an abnormal household. Just so.” This harsh comment, which was widely quoted by other Israeli media, was made by a longtime former employee in the prime minister’s residence after she testified to the police about the alleged misuse of public funds in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s homes.

“Believe me,” the employee said, “even the battery of the most powerful attorneys placed at her [Sara Netanyahu] disposal doesn't truly believe in what it is doing.” She confirmed reports that Sara Netanyahu is allegedly a heavy drinker. “I saw her in the house, not steady on her feet. I am willing to undergo a polygraph test about this,” the woman said. She is one of a host of former employees, household staff and friends who underscore the observation that the most crucial decisions affecting the people of Israel are made in “an abnormal household” on Balfour Street.

And after all this, that same disgruntled employee, who fears for the fate of her children, nonetheless said, “I am one of Netanyahu’s voters and my entire family votes for him.” All polls indicate that if Israelis were summoned to the ballot box today, they would send the Netanyahu family back to that same “abnormal” house that is the the prime minister's residence. In regard to the government’s helplessness in the “knifing intifada” many Israelis respond, “Well, what do you want? Is Buji [nickname of opposition leader Isaac Herzog] any better?” or “Is Netanyahu to blame that a Palestinian youth, inculcated with [Palestinian President] Mahmoud Abbas' incitement against Jews, murdered a woman in cold blood in front of her children? What’s that got to do with the occupation?”

Israelis were largely oblivious to the unusual criticism voiced Jan. 18 by US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro of Israel’s policy in the occupied territories. Shapiro said, “There seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians.” The crisis in the relationship with Sweden over a comment by Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom and the European campaign against the settlements are far less interesting to viewers of the “Big Brother” reality show than the snow that fell this week on Mount Hermon. Who cares that the Brazilian government is refusing to accept Netanyahu’s nominee as Israel’s ambassador to Brazil, settler and former Judea and Samaria settlement council leader Danny Dayan? How is Netanyahu even linked to the new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that ranked Israel as the country with the highest poverty rates among the organization’s member states? So what if 21% of the country’s inhabitants are currently below the poverty line, compared with some 14% in the mid-1990s? In any case, most of the poor eventually vote for right-wing parties.