Yair Netanyahu to pay further damages to ex-MK after pulling libel loss appeal
Judge adds court fees to amount prime minister’s son was already ordered to pay former lawmaker Stav Shaffir over series of offensive tweets; she declares ‘another victory’

A court ordered Yair Netanyahu Tuesday to pay additional damages to a former lawmaker after the prime minister’s son withdrew his appeal against an earlier loss in the libel case.
The Tel Aviv District Court said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son must pay ex-MK Stav Shaffir another NIS 7,500 ($2,000) in court fees, in addition to the NIS 70,000 ($19,300) he was previously ordered to pay her.
The court found that even though Netanyahu had followed its suggestion that he retract the appeal, Shaffir was still required to follow through the process till the end, incurring legal costs, according to Channel 12.
“Another victory over Yair Netanyahu,” Shaffir wrote on social media platform X.
“You are hearing this before him as they haven’t woken up yet in Miami,” she added in a poke at Netanyahu who has spent the best part of the last two years in the US.
Netanyahu filed his appeal in June last year after the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court ruled in favor of Shaffir in her libel lawsuit against him.

Shaffir had sued Netanyahu over posts he wrote about her on Twitter, and Netanyahu lodged a retaliatory lawsuit over Shaffir’s own social media posts, which the court threw out.
The lawsuits stemmed from an exchange between the two in April 2020, while the country was under a strict COVID lockdown over Passover. Prime Minister Netanyahu posted a photo of his family celebrating together, including his youngest son, Avner Netanyahu, who was not living with him, drawing criticism that they violated the quarantine laws at the time.
Shaffir tweeted that she was disappointed in the prime minister’s behavior.
In response, Yair Netanyahu slammed the former lawmaker, referencing her Knesset run alongside former prime minister Ehud Barak in the Democratic Union party. Barak was infamously photographed visiting disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein’s New York home, but has denied any misdeeds.
“Are you sure you want to speak about morality in light of the failed project you tried to set up with a pedophile enthusiast and frequent visitor to Epstein’s pedophile island?” Yair Netanyahu tweeted at Shaffir. “You’re ugly inside and out. Find yourself a permanent Arab husband who won’t throw you out, go to some village, become a Muslim, and leave us in peace.”

Responding, Shaffir wrote that she had missed spending time with her family over the holiday. “Now, as I read what the prime minister’s son wrote, educated in his [father’s] ways and living off his money, I miss them even more,” she wrote. “You’re a liar, a harasser, and an evil and racist person. The child’s mouth is the father’s legacy.”
“Communist, idiot, pedophile enthusiast, save the derogatory names you called me for Epstein, Barak, and your other friends. I don’t take a shekel from the state,” Netanyahu shot back. “You, on the other hand, owe the taxpayer NIS 8 million.”
The prime minister’s son was likely referencing the NIS 8 million that Shaffir and Barak borrowed from the Knesset for their joint electoral run in 2019, which they didn’t pay back after the Knesset disbanded for an immediate subsequent election.
In a March 2023 ruling the magistrate’s court said that Netanyahu must pay Shaffir NIS 70,000 for the defamatory comments, court costs, and other legal fees.
Netanyahu is known for his far-right views and combative social media presence, which has landed him in court on a number of occasions. He rose in public prominence amid widespread reports that he was influencing his father’s policies, particularly over the government’s contentious judicial overhaul plan.

Netanyahu, who now resides near Miami, reportedly moved to Florida in 2023 after the premier and his wife were said to demand that he stop posting on social media and not speak directly with lawmakers or ministers, amid accusations he was inflaming tensions in Israel and exacerbating a diplomatic rift with the United States.
Yair Netanyahu had normally tweeted dozens of times a day but has been almost entirely absent from social media in recent months. Nonetheless, in November last year, he accused the Shin Bet security service of trying to overthrow his father’s government and of torturing IDF soldiers.