Star chefs, cigars and pink champagne: How James Packer made a mark in Israel

In the most exclusive – and secure – residential street in Israel, rich and famous neighbours share keys to their homes, access to their swimming pools and wine and dine each other long into the night.

It was in this gated community on Hadar Street, in the ancient township of Caesarea, about 45 minutes north of Tel Aviv, where troubled billionaire James Packer six years ago hosted some of Israel’s most powerful and influential in his $2 million beachside villa.

James Packer and Arnon Milchan listen to Benjamin Netanyahu speak at a joint meeting of the United States Congress in 2015.Credit: Getty

Among them were prime ministers, film stars and producers, pop singers and filthy-rich business partners. Crates of high-end champagne – pink and white – were consumed and gifted, boxes of cigars distributed (sometimes smoked straight from the humidor) and expensive jewellery offered to the guests. Anything was on the menu, with dinners prepared on occasion by the late Justin Bull, a celebrity chef to the stars, brought specially from Australia, including barbecued meat, seafood and vintage wines.

But it was these relationships that have plunged Israel into uncharted territory over the past few years, dominating political life and fuelling a debate about the state of democracy and the country’s legal system.

In the past three weeks the private chef, driver and aides to Packer, 55, have revealed the depth of the Australian’s relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, as a long-delayed corruption case into the newly reinstated Israeli prime minister threatens to overshadow his remarkable comeback.

Their testimonies in the prolonged trial have laid bare examples of the extraordinary access Packer had gained to the most elite and secretive circles while opening his beach house north of Tel Aviv to Netanyahu, his wife Sara, and the former head of Mossad, Yossi Cohen.

An aerial view of Benjamin Netanyahu’s (left) and James Packer’s beachside villas in the gated community on Hadar Street, in Caesarea, about 45 minutes north of Tel Aviv, Israel.

Packer is not accused of receiving anything in return for his gifts – he is not on trial and has denied any wrongdoing.

The so-called “gifts affair” trial in Jerusalem District Court, known as Case 1000, has heard in past days that the Netanyahus had a key to Packer’s home, which he bought at the urging of the man known as “Bibi”.

The relationship between Netanyahu, Packer and their mutual friend, film producer, businessman and former intelligence officer Arnon Milchan, is central to the case. Milchan has more than 130 film credits to his name, including 12 Years a Slave, JFK, Heat, L.A. Confidential and The Revenant. He was also an Israeli intelligence operative from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s.

Milchan, like Packer, is also not on trial and has denied wrongdoing.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara.Credit: AP

Limor Dicovsky, who worked as a chef for Packer and Milchan, told the court this month that when Packer visited Israel, the Netanyahus ate at his home – next door to theirs – regularly.

“A lot of meals, they simply lived nearby,” she said, according to details of the case reported in Haaretz English by reporter Yael Freidson. Dicovsky confirmed estimates she gave in her police statement, that the couple ate at Packer’s home 10 to 15 times. She said these meals were less formal than those at Milchan’s, and that she had been asked to make the Netanyahus “whatever they want”. Friends of Packer say the favour was returned almost as many times, where he would dine at the Netanyahus’ home, but his own chef would provide the food.

Dicovsky said Packer’s house had an assortment of cigars served to guests in a humidor and also cigars in sealed packs. The latter, she said, were intended only for Netanyahu, who received them as gifts. Shani Koskas, Packer’s housekeeper, added under oath that no other guest of Packer’s received cigar boxes from him.

Dicovsky said the meals for the Netanyahus were not routine and required her to have “more of everything”, since each member of the couple would ask for different dishes. She said that on several occasions she cooked in the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem when Milchan or Packer were guests. She also described cooking a large meal in Packer’s home that was sent to the Netanyahus. Milchan and Packer paid for all the meals, Dicovsky testified.

James Packer and Sara Netanyahu.Credit: Getty

The indictment against Netanyahu in Case 1000 charges the returned prime minister with fraud and breach of trust for accepting luxury gifts from Milchan and Packer worth about $295,000 and for intervening on behalf of Milchan when he was seeking a United States visa renewal and assisting him with regulatory benefits.

Friends say the reclusive Packer, a former media and casino tycoon who has battled alcoholism and mental health issues, remains close to Netanyahu, who with his allies won a decisive majority in Israel’s parliamentary election earlier this month, paving the way for him to return to power at the head of one of the most right-wing governments in the country’s history.

His dramatic return to office comes just 15 months after he was ousted by a sprawling eight-party coalition that brought together parties from across the political spectrum, which was united mainly by the desire to remove him.

Hadas Klein gives evidence in the trial against Benjamin Netanyahu.Credit: Emil Salman/Haaretz

But the 73-year-old still faces a litany of bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges. He has forcefully denied all accusations but vowed he will not use his new authority to upend the legal process.

Along with this case, Netanyahu faces charges in two others on fraud and breach of trust, as well as bribery in one of them. He has admitted receiving gifts, but insisted they were “the smallest of trifles” and entirely legal. He has claimed without evidence that the charges were fabricated and part of a bid by the state prosecution and political rivals to force him out of office.

Netanyahu was cleared in a fourth case, Case 3000, which concerned the government’s procurement of German-made submarines. One court is hearing all three cases at once, instead of one after the other, slowing down the prospect of a verdict any time soon.

According to Haaretz, Koskas testified last week that Netanyahu and his wife Sara “would come often to use the [Caesarea] house’s facilities and staff … to eat and drink”, usually when Packer was absent.

She described an incident during Passover in 2016, when she turned up to work and the Netanyahu couple had come to the house to swim. Koskas told the trial that Hadas Klein, personal assistant to both Packer and Milchan, had told her Sara Netanyahu had asked for cigars and champagne.

“Hadas asked me to place three bottles of pink champagne, a bottle of white champagne, and cigars in black plastic bags.”

Dicovsky also said she saw Klein, and Yonatan Hasson, their driver, taking crates of champagne to the car, but didn’t see them given to Netanyahu.

Hasson has testified that he brought about 20 to 25 shipments of champagne boxes, sometimes including cigars, to the former prime minister.

“Let’s just say that throughout the whole period, they didn’t have 25 birthdays,” Hasson told the court.

Hasson said that throughout the course of these deliveries, there were three instances in which he did not drop the gifts off directly at the prime minister’s residence in Balfour.

“One time, I was asked to bring two cases of champagne to Caesarea. When I got there, the one who opened the door was Netanyahu. He pointed in the direction of the kitchen, and that’s where the story ends,” the driver said, according to Haaretz.

Yonatan Hasson, the driver of Arnon Milchan and James Packer. Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg/Haaretz

When asked about the cigar purchases for Milchan and Packer, Hasson explained that “99 per cent” of them were intended to be delivered to Netanyahu. He added that the two businessmen were also “100 per cent” aware of all the gifts bought on their behalf for the Netanyahus.

He said Packer knew about this whole issue but “asked not to be informed about every little thing”.

Bought at the suggestion of Netanyahu, Packer had invested millions of dollars into his home with a heated swimming pool, a huge Jacuzzi, an outdoor fireplace, a private gym and a host of other amenities. Among guests who attended the premises over time was Jordan Belfort, the dubious stockbroker who wrote The Wolf of Wall Street, which became a hit film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, another close friend of Packer.

The former director-general of Israel’s Communications Ministry, Shlomo Filber, met in the villa with Netanyahu and Milchan and discussed a handful of what-ifs, including the alleged fantasies of the prime minister of Packer taking financial stakes in local newspaper and television networks.

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, and Australian foreign affairs minister at the time Julie Bishop are among others who have reportedly enjoyed Packer’s hospitality there.

Milchan later told the police during their investigation that there was “a kind of convenience in moving from house to house, from yard to yard, from pool to pool, from food island to food island”.

Netanyahu’s defence attorney, Amit Hadad, has argued that Packer was in the habit of treating his guests to cigars and champagne, and didn’t purchase them solely for the Netanyahu couple.

According to the prosecution, the cigars and champagne purchased by Packer were mostly intended for the Netanyahus.

In this context, Hadad presented a letter from Packer’s friend Ben Tilley, which stated that during his stay in Israel he smoked a cigar every evening, provided by Packer.

A letter by Guy Jalland, one of Packer’s most trusted lieutenants, stated that many people were entertained at Milchan’s homes in Israel, and that they were served pink champagne. Jalland added that Packer himself drank champagne. To this, Klein replied that “Mr Packer hardly drank”.

“He drank alcohol in large quantities, everything was available, all brands … but he never drank pink champagne,” she said, which was unique to the Netanyahu couple.

An investigation into former Mossad director Yossi Cohen was closed this year after it was revealed that he too received $20,000 in cash from Packer on the occasion of Cohen’s daughter’s wedding. Cohen, who initially claimed the gift was much smaller, has since returned the money.

Shimon Peres, the late former president and political rival of Netanyahu, was invited for dinner at Packer’s home and received a $1 million contribution to his centre for peace and innovation in Tel Aviv. Packer, who has told friends of his deep admiration for Peres, was reported to have kneeled and kissed his feet on one occasion.

But Packer’s relationship with Peres was one of the few differences he had with Netanyahu.

In July, Klein testified that the prime minister had vetoed a $3 million donation after Milchan told Netanyahu about it.

“Netanyahu was very angry and called [Packer] and demanded that we halt the rest of the donation, saying there were other bodies worth donating to,” she said. “Since then, Packer never donated to the Peres centre again.”

Relations between Milchan and Packer have since soured after Packer accused Milchan of passing on some of his sensitive medical-related issues to DiCaprio.

“I received a letter with all the dirty words, that I betrayed him [Packer] by telling Leo, that the whole world would talk – he was in a state of ecstasy,” Milchan related in his interrogation last year.

“The last time I saw him was at the funeral of Shimon Peres [September 30, 2016]. He looked like a zombie, like someone from Madame Tussaud’s.”

Two weeks after that funeral, Packer left Israel and has not been back, but his generosity to his friends still casts a cloud over Netanyahu’s future. Packer declined to comment when contacted by this masthead, saying it would be “inappropriate”.

The trial continues.

This article is based on reports by Haaretz reporter Yael Freidson.

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