Netanyahu to pull libel suit against journalist in exchange for clarification

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and prominent journalist Ben Caspit reach an agreement to end a libel suit filed by the premier.

Netanyahu will pull the suit and Caspit will publish a statement saying that he never intended to imply Netanyahu’s actions surrounding the payment of benefits to a Knesset legal adviser were corrupt.

In 2018, Netanyahu filed a lawsuit against Caspit, demanding NIS 200,000 ($53,000)  for voicing “false and baseless” claims in his column in the Maariv newspaper.

Caspit wrote in his column that Netanyahu’s “emissary” MK Miki Zohar (Likud)  handed a NIS 6 million ($1.6 million) pension benefit to  Knesset legal adviser Eyal Yinon, shortly before he was due to step down from the position.

Caspit also pointed out that Yinon’s romantic partner, Amit Marari, was the deputy attorney general in charge of criminal affairs, and was involved in the various corruption investigations into the prime minister — implying an illicit attempt to influence the outcome of those investigations.