Netanyahu family sues ex-PM Ehud Olmert for defamation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s family sued former prime minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court for alleged defamation, including NIS 837,000 of damages, for statements against them in two recent interviews.

One interview was on April 12 to Democrat TV and the second interview was on April 21 on the Ophira and Berkowitz TV program.

During the first interview, Olmert called the Netanyahu family “mentally ill.”

Within days, the Netanyahus had threatened to sue Olmert for NIS 1 million if he did not retract his statement.

In contrast, during the second interview, Olmert doubled down on his characterization of the Netanyahu family, explicitly refused to retract and laughed when one of his interviewers warned him he might be losing NIS 1 million.Olmert responded to the lawsuit saying “I am amused by this band of idiots.”

Olmert’s initial comment was said during the interview with Democrat TV in which he heavily criticized the current government and its conduct during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We had NIS 100 billion to hand out as unpaid leave grants… if we had invested 10% of that in the public health system in the past two or three years, we would be in a completely different situation!” he exclaimed.

He also expressed optimism in establishing a government without Netanyahu, noting that “the Likud is losing its power” and expressing hope that New Hope head Gideon Sa’ar keeps his word and won’t support any coalition with Netanyahu.

However, Olmert’s positive approach did not extend to Netanyahu himself, expressing some controversial comments about Netanyahu and his family. “What can’t be fixed is the mental illness of the prime minister and his wife and son,” Olmert said, adding that “under regular circumstances any psychiatrist with a healthy conscience… would tell you that they need to be hospitalized. They are sick people.”

Netanyahu family lawyer Yossi Cohen responded to Olmert saying: “It is hard to overstate the level of wickedness, maliciousness and despicableness in your comments that include premeditated and serious slander meant to humiliate and scorn my clients, while making them a cause for ridicule and contempt in the eyes of the public and to damage their positions.”

Olmert has openly criticized Netanyahu and his government in the past few years, going as far as saying that Netanyahu is responsible for destroying Israeli democracy.