Yair Netanyahu Wins Libel Suit Against Political Activist

The prime minister’s son won the case against an anti-Netanyahu political activist.

Yair Netanyahu, the youngest son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, won his libel suit against Abie Benjamin on Sunday.

The younger Netanyahu sued Benjamin three years ago for posting on Facebook that the prime minister had asked the Mossad chief to issue his son a fake passport.

Benjamin claimed that the real purpose of the alleged false identity was to hide money overseas, and that the name used on the fake passport later appeared in the so-called Panama Papers, an anonymously leaked trove of millions of documents containing details about wealthy individuals and public officials, including their alleged offshore holdings, according to a Times of Israel report.

Benjamin, a political activist, is best known as the leading organizer behind weekly protests in front of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s home demanding an indictment of Netanyahu for corruption.

Netanyahu’s son had asked for 140,000 shekels ($39,100) in the suit. But the Tel Aviv court reduced the sum to 20,000 shekels ($5,600) in damages and an additional 7,000 shekels ($2,000) in fees.

Netanyahu has made a name for himself by aggressively defending his family on social media. At one point, he was temporarily barred by Facebook.

Benjamin appeared to be undeterred by the loss.

“I will continue to publish any information that I think is worthy,” Benjamin said in a Monday radio interview.

He claimed the suit was meant to silence him, a response to the attention he was drawing to the Submarine Affair, which involved corruption related to the purchase of German submarines.

The prime minister is not suspected in that case.

According to a Times of Israel report, last year Netanyahu refused to accept an apology from Binyamin, saying the attempt to make amends was not sincere enough to satisfy his demands for justice.

During the trial, Netanyahu was censured by the judge for using salty language during cross examination by Binyamin’s lawyer.

In June 2017, the same court ordered journalist Igal Sarna to pay Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu NIS 100,000 ($28,300) in another libel suit.

            (World Israel News)

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