The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court yesterday accepted the defamation lawsuit filed by Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu and his family members against former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert was ordered to pay the members of the Netanyahu family 62,500 shekels in addition to expenses totaling 10,000 shekels and the cost of lawyers 25,000 shekels. The former district judge in Haifa, lawyer Moshe Gilad, commented on the verdict this morning (Tuesday) on the “Caffeine” show with Yoav Mintz on Radio North 104.5FM.
“He did not drive in good faith”: Olmert will compensate the Netanyahu family with tens of thousands of shekels
The compensation is much lower than the amount of the original claim of NIS 837 thousand. Where does the difference come from, Gilad was asked at the beginning of the interview. “It’s not exactly NIS 62.5 thousand. You also need to add NIS 35,000 for legal fees and expenses. This is still a low number. The law of defamation runs on the tension between freedom of speech in a democratic country which is a supreme value, without freedom of speech we know what happens, there is no development, no progress and a sense of freedom, and the understanding that freedom of speech even in a democratic country has a limit, otherwise ‘one another is a brother in law’ , meaning that freedom of speech can also lead to crazy actions. The law of defamation comes and tries on the one hand not to completely damage the freedom of speech and on the other hand to make order. You can see it in the judge too. There are those who will say from the side of the prime minister-designate that the verdict is sharp, blunt, and there are those who will say in light of the sum: ‘What, the mountain gave birth to a mouse.’ Sometimes especially especially in this area of defamation, the very assertion can hurt, not just the money.”
Regarding the weight given in the decision to the Public Echo, he said, “Suppose we determined that what so-and-so said about an unknown person is defamation, a libel suit. The court says I will give double compensation. The law provides for 75 thousand shekels in compensation for a person, if he said the words on purpose To harm, he decides to double the compensation to NIS 150,000. Here the court says, I am convinced that the plaintiffs did not prove intent to harm, and then it will award NIS 75,000 to each. A public figure needs some sense. When you put your foot in this sea of sharks of politics, you are expected to be in a situation of difficult publications And you have to learn to cope. That’s why he awarded Benjamin Netanyahu a low compensation (20,000). His wife a little higher because he said she was his wife and dragged him along. He awarded Yair the lowest amount (NIS 7,500) on the grounds that he himself had used such expressions in other cases.”
If so, what is the difference between the first publication and the second publication by “Ofira and Berkowitz” which was similar and there the judge ruled, there was no defamation in it, Mintz asked, and the lawyer replied: “The reason is simple. Binyamin Netanyahu’s lawyers did not bring the entire quote and what they brought It was short and there Olmert tries to explain what was in the first publication. His very explanation of the first publication, is not another slanderous publication. He is talking about something that was published and therefore he tells them: “You have not brought me anything.”
At the end we asked if it is possible to talk here in terms of who gained and who lost. “It’s very difficult. Take, for example, a herd of lions. When everyone there eats the doe they caught, they always remain lions. Obviously, it’s in the eye of the beholder,” said Gilad. “On the one hand, most of the senior politicians do not want to go to court for such things. On the other hand, the words that were said are really ‘water has reached the soul.’ It is clear that Binyamin Netanyahu will come and say: ‘Of course I won. I showed everyone that I am not afraid and it is not possible to talk like that. I did not come for The money. I came for the principle and I’m donating the money.’ : ‘We have been warned, there is one verdict.’ mediate”.