The Magistrate’s Court in Tel Aviv yesterday accepted the defamation lawsuit filed by Benjamin Netanyahu and his family members against 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, attorney Moshe Gilad, commented on the verdict today (Tuesday) on the ‘Caffeine’ show with Yoav Mintz on Radio North 104.5FM.
The compensation is much lower than the amount of the original claim of NIS 837 thousand. Where does the gap come from?
“It’s not exactly 62.5 thousand shekels. 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 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 have determined that what so-and-so said about an unknown person is defamation, a libel claim. The court says I give double compensation. The law stipulates 75 thousand shekels compensation per person. If he said the words with the intention to hurt, 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 75 thousand shekels to each. A public figure needs some sense. When you put a foot in this sea of sharks of politics, you are expected to be in a situation of not easy publications and you have to learn to deal with it.
“That’s why he awarded Benjamin Netanyahu a low compensation (20,000). His wife is a little taller because he said she was his wife and was being dragged behind him. He awarded Yair the lowest amount (NIS 7,500) on the grounds that he himself had used such phrases in other cases.”
If so, what is the difference between the first publication and the second publication at ‘Ofira and Berkowitz’, which was similar and where the judge ruled, there was no defamation in it?
The retired judge replied: “The reason is simple. Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyers did not bring the entire quote and what they did bring was brief and there Olmert tries to explain what was in the first publication. His very explanation of the first publication, is not another defamatory publication. He’s talking about something that was published, so he tells them: ‘You didn’t bring me anything.'”
Is it possible to talk here in terms of who gained and who lost?
“It is very difficult. Take for example a group 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 senior politicians do not want to go to court for such matters. On the other hand, the words that were said are really ‘water reached the soul’. It is clear that Benjamin Netanyahu will come and say: ‘Of course I won. I showed everyone that I’m not afraid and you can’t talk like that. I didn’t come for the money. I came for the principle and I’m donating the money.’ I believe that Netanyahu, his wife and his son came out and had the upper hand to a large extent. I didn’t come to get rich. I came so that there would be a court that would tell anyone who speaks excessively, not to do it. Later another judge will say: ‘We have been warned, there is one verdict.’ This is an important judgment.
“My opinion is that the one who came out victorious is the Netanyahu family. With everything said there, it is not simple, there is still a limit to freedom of speech. To teach you how difficult the judge’s job is. How much he tried to compromise.”