The CEO of the Panda Hotel located in Neve Ativ on the Golan Heights, where Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara spent their vacation, responded Thursday to the virtual attack and Google ranking drop by judicial reform protestors.
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"I hope we will finish this saga and next week we will make decisions," said Ami Yisrael, CEO of the Panda Hotel. "Those who harmed the hotel will be sued. I respect and host every guest in the best way possible. It is a great honor to host the prime minister at our hotel. I had to give my utmost."
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The Panda Hotel and Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu
(Photo: Panda Hotel, Alex Kolomoisky)
When the Netanyahus arrived at his highly rated hotel on Google, the rating stood at a particularly high score of 4.8 out of 5. But now, two days later, the rating has dropped to 4.4, and in addition around 1,300 new comments have been registered. Many of them criticize the hotel for hosting the couple.
On the other hand, supporters of the prime minister have begun posting positive comments about the hotel to counter the criticism. For example, a user named Yair commented on Google: "A perfect hotel that serves a legitimate prime minister despite the anger and hatred of the anti-democrats. It won't help the haters!"
At this stage, it's not clear what actions are being considered by the hotel management, and the threat to sue at the moment is general against "those who caused harm." In a conversation with Ynet, the hotel's CEO emphasized that: "I'm not a political person."
Either way, Ami Yisrael will not forget this week anytime soon. "I received the alert about their vacation two days ago," he recalled. "This is not the first time I've hosted ministers and Knesset members, both at the Panda Hotel and in previous hotels I worked at, and I know how to prepare and provide them, like all guests, with the experience and enjoyment. Everything else is less interesting."
"We certainly paid a lot of attention to them and took care of them, and we made a great effort to ensure that no guest was affected. There were those who applauded and were excited, and there were those on the other side. Due to security arrangements, the prime minister and his wife had complete privacy. They had no special requests, and we provided them with our presidential suite. I hope there will be unity and peace for all the people of Israel, and we will welcome them all with love."
During the vacation, which unlike reports didn't end, but continued also on Thursday, the Netanyahus were not seen by the other hotel guests. They reportedly had their meals in their suite, relaxed a lot and enjoyed the spa facilities.