Olmert asks court to order psychiatric evaluations for Netanyahu, wife and son

Former PM also seeks access to family medical records, as part of libel case filed by Netanyahus against him for calling them ‘mentally ill’ in interviews

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert (L) and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-R) and his wife Sara, wait in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, on 10 January 2022, for a preliminary hearing in the Netanyahus' defamation lawsuit against Olmert, who called them "mentally ill" in interviews. (Avshalom SASSONI / POOL / AFP)
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert (L) and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-R) and his wife Sara, wait in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, on 10 January 2022, for a preliminary hearing in the Netanyahus' defamation lawsuit against Olmert, who called them "mentally ill" in interviews. (Avshalom SASSONI / POOL / AFP)

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert on Monday filed a request with the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court asking for opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara and eldest son Yair to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

The request is part of a defamation lawsuit the Netanyahus filed against Olmert for calling them “mentally ill” in interviews. The suit seeks NIS 837,000 (some $257,000) in damages for Olmert’s “obsessive efforts to harm their good name in public, out of jealousy and deep frustration.”

Olmert’s request also sought access to “any relevant documents” about their mental health. Olmert’s lawyer Amir Titonovich told the Haaretz newspaper that they believe that the Netanyahu family has records showing that they are not mentally sound.

The request needs to be approved by the court, but it is thought unlikely that it will do so.

Earlier this month, Olmert rejected out of hand the idea that he could apologize to the Netanyahus, arguing that he was expressing a widely held opinion.

Olmert gave a series of interviews, hours after the first Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court hearing in the Netanyahu family’s libel case against him.

In attendance at the first hearing were Olmert and his lawyer, as well as Benjamin, Sara, and Yair Netanyahu, and their attorney. The session ended with the sides refusing to reach a compromise, despite being urged to do so by the judge, meaning the case would continue in court.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert (L) and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-R) and his wife Sara, wait in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, on January 10, 2022, for a preliminary hearing in the Netanyahus’ defamation lawsuit against Olmert, who called them ‘mentally ill’ in interviews. (Avshalom SASSONI/POOL/AFP)

Asked whether he would make an apology, Olmert said in an interview with Channel 12 news: “Of course not. It hasn’t even been considered. There’s no chance that this will happen — no apology, nor anything that resembles it.”

Olmert added that what he had said about Netanyahu was mild in comparison to other comments made in recent years about his fellow former premier, saying he was “amused” that, of all the comments, the Netanyahus decided to press charges over his.

“Does someone seriously think I’m a psychiatrist? Of course I expressed an opinion, one that is very popular among the public regarding the family’s conduct — and there have been countless revelations relating to that,” he argued.

He claimed he had consulted experts before making the remark. “Mental illness is an illness, it requires treatment and mentally ill people should not be offended,” he said. “I just don’t want [the Netanyahus] to be running the country and making decisions on the most fateful issues.”

At the hearing, Olmert was asked by Judge Amit Yariv what he had based his comments on, and answered: “I followed their actions, I heard recordings of the family, I conferred with experts and people who are associated with them and know them well. They described to me behaviors that are popularly seen as abnormal, crazy behavior.”

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert sits in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on January 10, 2022, for a preliminary hearing in the Netanyahus’ defamation lawsuit against Olmert, who called them ‘mentally ill’ in interviews. (Avshalom SASSONI / POOL / AFP)

Netanyahu attorney Yossi Cohen said: “I don’t understand how a man can calmly write that Sara Netanyahu was in a treatment hostel. We don’t have an issue with Mr. Olmert; he’s been through difficult things. But a family is sitting here that in my eyes is one of Israel’s finest, and they have to hear that a former prime minister — who by the way does not have a clean past — calls them mentally ill?”

In two interviews last year, one with Channel 12 and another with the news site Democrat TV, Olmert leveled criticism at Netanyahu and said that “what is irreparable is the mental illness of the prime minister, his wife, and his son,” referring to Yair Netanyahu.

“They are in need of psychiatric treatment,” Olmert said.

Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara arrive for a court hearing in their lawsuit against former premier Ehud Olmert, at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on January 10, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/POOL)

Neither Olmert nor Netanyahu is a stranger to court.

Olmert preceded Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister, ending his term before being formally indicted on corruption charges. He was convicted of fraud in 2014 and served 16 months of a 27-month prison sentence.

Netanyahu is currently on trial in three corruption cases. He faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and in Case 2000, and charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in Case 4000.

Netanyahu denies all allegations against him, and says the charges were fabricated by a biased police force and state prosecution service, overseen by a weak attorney general, in league with political opponents and the media.

Netanyahu and his family have also been involved in several libel cases in recent years, both as defendants and as plaintiffs.

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