National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and the Otzma Yehudit party on Sunday filed a defamation lawsuit for Nis 200,000 ($54,000) against former Defense Minister Moshe (Bogi) Ya’alon, over Ya’alon statement in a Ha’aretz podcast: “[When] I see the Death to the Arabs of Itamar Ben Gvir, with a group that follows him, first of all, I check who over there even served in the IDF.”
The lawsuit that was submitted to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court reads: “This is defamation with the intention of harming the plaintiff. These sayings attribute to the plaintiff both support for the idea of ‘death to the Arabs’ and expressing this idea in chants of ‘death to the Arabs,’ or support for them, while, according to the false claim, a ‘gang’ is following the plaintiff – when this claim is based on a lie.
“Expressing criticism of the plaintiff is acceptable and appropriate, but the gap between freedom of expression and telling such lies about the plaintiff in a way that actually hurts him and his party is unacceptable. In this regard, it should be stressed and made clear that the plaintiff repeatedly declares at every opportunity that he does not include all Arabs when he advocates for the death penalty for terrorists.”
“The defendant’s false publications are not consistent with reality,” the lawsuit continues. “The defendant has no qualm about speaking falsely and has used every means to achieve his goals, regardless of the harm he inflicts on the other party.”
