Live Update arrow right icon From the Liveblog of Sunday, November 8, 2026

Bat Yam files $65 million lawsuit against Iran; mayor tries to serve documents to Iranian diplomat in NYC

By Lazar Berman Today, 3:54 pm
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Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

The Bat Yam Municipality has filed a civil lawsuit against Iran at the Tel Aviv District Court seeking NIS 208 million ($65.29 million) for damages inflicted on the city during the June 2025 conflict with Israel.

On June 15 last year, an Iranian missile struck an apartment building in Bat Yam, taking the lives of nine civilians and injuring almost two hundred, the deadliest single strike of the 12-day conflict.

The nine victims included five Ukrainian nationals who had moved to Israel in 2022, in order to seek cancer treatment for Anastasia Buryk, 7, who was slain along with her mother, her grandmother, and two cousins. Holocaust survivor Bella Ashkenazi was among the other four killed.

Last week, Bat Yam Mayor Tzvika Brot attempted to serve an Iranian diplomat in New York City legal documents related to the lawsuit.

According to the Ynet news outlet, the attempt to serve Iran’s first secretary at the United Nations took four months of preparation, as observers tracked the movements of the Iranian delegation. The effort involved Israeli and US officials, Ynet reports.

Video taken by Brot’s entourage and posted to X shows him approaching the diplomat at a crosswalk, and saying in English, “Hi, I am Tzvika Brot. I’m the mayor of Bat Yam, and this is a lawsuit we issued against your country.”

“I am a diplomat, I’m sorry,” says the Iranian official as he walks away.

“Please consider yourself officially served on behalf of your government,” says Brot as he follows him, urging the diplomat to speak out against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

In Israeli law, a defendant must be made aware of a lawsuit before it can proceed.

Bat Yam is being represented by Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center.

According to Ynet, Bat Yam is hoping to be given some of the $1.2 billion Israel owes Iran from oil supply agreements dating back to before Tehran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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