Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is accused of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, has filed another defamation lawsuit, his sixth within a few weeks.
After filing defamation lawsuits against former Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon, Democratic Party chairman Yair Golan, former senior Mossad official Udi Levi, and Movement for Quality Government chairman Eliad Shraga, Netanyahu has decided to sue Walla, one of Israel's most popular websites, and Prof. Shikma Bressler, one of the leaders of the protest movement against him.
Like most of the previous lawsuits he filed in recent weeks, this one also concerns allegations of improper connections with Qatar in his office. Following reports about the lawsuit filing, Bressler launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised half a million shekels in less than an hour.
The lawsuit follows a July news item on Walla, a follow up to a publication by Yigal Carmon of MEMRI, reporting that Qatar ordered the transfer of tens of millions of shekels to Netanyahu himself. Bressler shared the news item on Twitter, calling on her followers to protest against the government.
This month, Bressler again referenced Netanyahu's ties with Qatar, following an interview given by Udi Levi, who was also sued by the Prime Minister. "According to Udi Levi," Bressler noted, "It's possible that Netanyahu and his family received money from an enemy state. It's possible that hostile countries know about this. Netanyahu is vulnerable to blackmail. Israel's security has been compromised."
After the MEMRI publication and subsequent reports, scandals were revealed regarding money received from Qatar by people in Prime Minister Netanyahu's office: his closest Media adviser Jonatan Urich, and security spokesman Eli Feldstein, as well as advertiser Israel (Srulik) Einhorn who also worked with Netanyahu in Likud campaigns.
According to what was revealed in the media and later in police investigations, Qatar paid through intermediaries to advisers who worked with Netanyahu, before and after the October 7 Hamas massacre, while Qatar served as a mediator in negotiations with the terrorist organization Hamas.
Additionally, since the October 7 massacre, criticism of Netanyahu has intensified due to his years-long policy of preserving Hamas as a sovereign and armed force in the Gaza Strip, in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority and prevent any chance of a peace settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For this purpose, he initiated the transfer of hundreds of millions of shekels from Qatar that went to fund Hamas, with a large portion of the funds being transferred in cash suitcases during much of this period.
A few days after Bressler posted that according to Udi Levi, Netanyahu and his family may have received money from Qatar, she shared a photo showing signs with the inscription "Qatar funded Netanyahu's office." Bressler added: "Every Israeli should know. It's a fact beyond dispute. Qatar finances the October 7 massacre and Netanyahu's office. Before and after the massacre. We need to demand to know why Netanyahu is backing his people."
Netanyahu claims, through attorney Uriel Nizri (who also represents him in the series of other lawsuits he filed), that "during recent weeks and months, political elements began a vile and bad-faith move, deliberately harming a sitting prime minister during wartime with the intention to spread grievous nonsense claiming that Israel's prime minister received bribes from the state of Qatar and that Israel's prime minister received money to private accounts illegally from the state of Qatar."
According to Netanyahu, Walla and Bressler "were among the first to spread these slanders against the Prime Minister," despite the fact that both relied on documents published by Carmon on MEMRI's website. According to available data, Netanyahu has not filed a lawsuit against Carmon and the website he operates.
Regarding MEMRI's claims, which were echoed by Walla, Netanyahu claims that this is an "absolute lie," "a fabricated story and incorrect propaganda against the State of Israel, during wartime."
As for Bressler, Netanyahu claims that in her tweet referring to Udi Levi's statements, she "chose to present fiction as truth, a lie as fact, very serious defamation with the intention to harm, all for personal gain at the expense of Israel's prime minister, with publications that harm the Prime Minister and the State of Israel, especially during wartime."
According to the Prime Minister, this publication by Bressler "undermines the foundations of proper governance and democracy," as it was intended to harm a sitting prime minister during wartime through lies.
As usual in Netanyahu's recent lawsuits, besides financial compensation, Netanyahu is asking the court to issue an order "prohibiting the distribution of copies of the publication," and a "confiscation order that applies to any person who possesses such copies for sale, distribution or storage, even if that person was not a party to the trial."