Yair Netanyahu ordered to pay $81,000 to journalist in libel suit

Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been ordered by the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court to pay NIS 286,000 ($71,000) in damages to former Walla news site editor Avi Alkalay in a libel lawsuit.

The ruling was issued on Friday and was made public Saturday.

Alkalay had sued Yair Netanyahu for sharing a number of posts on social media that called the journalist a “planted mole from the Wexner Foundation,” a group that the Netanyahu family accuses of funding left-wing NGOs and campaigns, and that alleged he was in cahoots with the state’s prosecution against the premier.

Netanyahu had failed to respond to the lawsuit.

Alkalay’s attorney, Ron Levinthal, said in response to the ruling: “It is regrettable that at first the defendant underestimated the plaintiff, posted things without reviewing them, and later disregarded the court and the law, and did not bother to file a defense. From a prime minister’s son, higher standards could be expected.”

In a series of Twitter posts, Netanyahu claimed to have not known about the lawsuit, and that he never got a notice. He shared a letter from a lawyer claiming the decision was tied to upcoming elections and saying he would appeal.

Netanyahu is no stranger to libel lawsuits and legal threats. He has a history of posting incendiary messages on social media and tweets fast and often against those he believes have wronged him and his family.

This past week, he became embroiled in a new scandal after posting a photo and details of a young woman who took a selfie with Blue and White party chief Benny Gantz, leading her to suffer online harassment by supporters of Netanyahu and his father amid suggestions of a sexual encounter with Gantz.

Netanyahu tweeted the photo of the woman, Dana Cassidy, asking: “Does anyone know who this is?” He did so after posting unsubstantiated allegations about affairs Gantz supposedly had.

Cassidy said the reactions to Netanyahu’s post on social media were a form of “mass sexual harassment,” with posters making numerous sexual references to her and her supposed relationship with Gantz. She said she was later inundated with “a flood” of calls from the media asking her for comment on her purported affair with the politician.

Cassidy on Friday said she would take Netanyahu to court for his actions.

Her father Kobi then wrote an angry Facebook post addressed to the prime minister in which he said Yair “raped my daughter… in broad daylight, in the village square… he raped her honor. While using his status as the prime minister’s son, and as part of a disgusting campaign for you.”

“At his direction and inspired by him, my daughter’s honor was trampled publicly by every malcontent and good-for-nothing,” he said.

Yair Netanyahu responded by threatening Kobi Cassidy with legal action for libel, and saying he’d demand NIS 1 million ($286,000) in damages if the post was not deleted.

Last year, Yair Netanyahu won a libel lawsuit against Labor Party activist Abie Binyamin, who had accused him of using a fake Mossad-issued passport to hide millions overseas.

Netanyahu sued Binyamin for NIS 140,000 ($37,000) in damages over a 2017 Facebook post that claimed the premier had asked the secret service to issue his son a passport under a different name, which he then used to hide money offshore.