Caught in the spotlight: Sports broadcaster Nadav Yacovi was caught in the eye of the storm when a document in which he calls Knesset member Itamar Ben Gabir “garbage, a Nazi” was distributed today (Tuesday) across the network. In response to the video, Ben Gvir sent Yacovi a warning letter before taking legal action against him and demanded that he apologize and compensate him in the amount of approximately NIS 150,000. Even before submitting the letter of warning Yacovi apologized and claimed: “I lost control.”
As mentioned, Yacovi was recorded in the video when he was asked what he thought of Knesset members Itamar Ben Gabir and Ahmed Tibi and he answered: “Two scumbags. The cameraman responded with astonishment and said: “What? That’s how you say about Ben Gvir,” and the broadcaster replied: “Ben Gvir is trash, a Nazi, I can’t stand him. Disgusting, because he is a disgusting racist. He hates Arabs, he hates all Arabs.”
The provocative and controversial right-wing activist, Yoav Eliasi (“The Shadow”) posted the video on his Facebook account and wrote: “Sports broadcaster Nadav Yacovi: ‘Ben Gavir Zabel Nazi does not tolerate him, he is a disgusting racist’ and this is the person who is going to broadcast the World Cup on behalf of ‘Kan 11’ In November. Itamar Ben Gvir, I want to be your partner in the lawsuit, we’ll live and see.”
Yacovi responded on his Twitter page: “Today a video was revealed on the networks in which I say things I shouldn’t have said, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart and regret it. The words were said when a group of young people aggressively surrounded me at the end of the broadcast in Bloomfield and put me under mental pressure because of which I momentarily lost control of myself . I apologize to anyone who was hurt by my stupid rant.”
As mentioned, Ben Gvir, through attorney Ze’ev Wolf, submitted a warning letter before filing a lawsuit against the sports commentator and demanded that he apologize within three days and hand over compensation in the amount of NIS 150,000. In his letter, attorney Wolf accused Nadav Jacobi of slanderous words: “There is no There is no doubt that the serious things you posted about my client are defamation. The things you published humiliated and shamed my client, harmed his good name and defamed him without any reason, and all this with the intention of making him a target of hatred, ridicule and contempt in the eyes of many.”
In his letter, Attorney Wolff wrote his conditions before taking legal steps against him: “I am contacting you before filing a lawsuit, and I require you to act as follows: within three days publish an apology and clarification in a wording and manner that will be coordinated with my client. Compensate my client with financial compensation in the amount of NIS 150,000.”