Yair Netanyahu countersues leftist think tank in Facebook spat
Molad sued PM’s son for libel over his response to critical post; he is now claiming defamation and seeks NIS 140k

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s eldest son filed a counter-lawsuit on Monday against a left-wing think tank for defamation and invasion of privacy over a scathing Facebook post from August.
Yair Netanyahu’s suit, which is seeking NIS 139,621 ($40,000) in damages from Molad, asserts the group’s Facebook post titled “Five things you did not know about Yair Netanyahu” was an “injustice” meant to slander him.
In its August Facebook post, Molad castigated the prime minister’s son for living at the taxpayer’s expense, taking lavish vacations with an entourage of state-funded security guards, seeking to influence his father, and encouraging the boycott of Arab-owned businesses.
In response Netanyahu said the group was serving a radical left-wing and anti-Israel agenda. He accused Molad of being a “radical, anti-Zionist organization funded by the Foundation for the Destruction of Israel [a reference to the New Israel Fund, in a Hebrew play on words] and the European Union.”
Molad then filed a claim seeking NIS 140,000 from the younger Netanyahu, saying his public criticism of the organization amounted to libel. In addition to seeking monetary damages, the suit calls for Netanyahu to apologize and delete the Facebook post.
חמישה דברים שלא ידעתם על יורש העצר, יאיר נתניהו:1. יאיר, צעיר בן 25 שאינו עובד לפרנסתו ומתגורר בבית הוריו על חשבון…
Posted by שישים ואחת on Sunday, July 30, 2017
In his countersuit Netanyahu lambasted the “ugly falsehoods” in Molad’s post, and alleged the accompanying photo of the premier’s son in a clown suit was “slanderous and embarrassing.”
In response, Molad accused Netanyahu of “trying to intimidate us.”