Bennett sues rabbi for spreading false claims his parents were not Jewish

Then-prime minister Naftali Bennett arrives at a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on October 23, 2022. (Alex Kolomoisky/Pool)
Then-prime minister Naftali Bennett arrives at a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on October 23, 2022. (Alex Kolomoisky/Pool)

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is suing Rabbi Ronen Shaulov for repeatedly delivering sermons in which he claimed that Bennett’s parents were not Jewish.

Bennett seeks NIS 1 million ($290,000) in damages, saying that the rabbi repeatedly delivered the same message in sermons, leading to it being perceived as true by a large portion of the population.

In sermons posted on the internet, Shaulov says that because Bennet’s parents are not Jewish, neither is he, and he “sold the country to non-Jews and was their dog.”

A statement from Bennett’s office says that the false accusations caused great distress to his family and that now that he was out of office he would actively pursue the “poison machine.”

Bennett says he will donate the damages to families of IDF fallen soldiers.

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