The Vice President of the Tel Aviv District Court outright dismissed a lawsuit filed by Eldad Yaniv. Several months ago, Yaniv sued former Prime Minister Netanyahu, former Minister Ohana, the police commissioner, the ombudsman, the state attorney general and others, against the background of his suspicion that the state infiltrated his phone using an NSO spy.
In his lawsuit, Yaniv demanded that the defendants “declare that they did not act directly and / or indirectly to infringe on his privacy by hacking into any digital or other means in his possession.” Yaniv further demanded that “to the extent that burglary has been committed for any digital or other means in his possession, the defendants must declare the dates on which these burglaries were committed, the content of the information collected, and specify who were the parties involved in the burglary and / or improper collection.” All this in view of Eldad Yaniv’s fear that “it is possible” that follow-up actions were taken against him “while he was involved in the social protest.”
Defendants sought to dismiss the suit outright, and the court granted the motion. Judge Shevach noted that “an order directing the defendant to declare no injustice to the plaintiff in one way or another, or instructing him to assist in his investigation to ascertain the truth – is not a recognized remedy in civil law, nor is it one of the special remedies listed in Chapter E of the Privacy Protection Act.”
Judge Shevach also wrote that Eldad Yaniv suspects the defendants who hacked into the digital devices used by him, “but the court is not the body that will conduct the investigation required for him to verify his concerns or refute them. A lawsuit aimed at investigating whether an injustice was committed, . Due to these and other reasons, Judge Shevach decided to reject Yaniv’s lawsuit outright and charge him with legal expenses in the amount of NIS 25,000.
The court ordered the deletion of all 8 defendants represented by the prosecution. Netanyahu is the only one who did not file a motion for dismissal outright, so the lawsuit against him continues to be clarified until it is immediately rejected outright.