News 12 journalist Amit Segal has filed a defamation lawsuit against Prof. Amiram Goldblum and demands compensation of 160,000 shekels (About 48 thousand dollars). On June 9, Goldblum published on his Facebook page a link to a segment from an interview conducted on the Knesset Channel with journalist Yigal Sarna, which appeared under the headline "Amit Segal is not a journalist, he pollutes the profession." Goldblum praised Sarna for his words and added his own critical remarks.

"Yigal attacked Segal in an unprecedented but justified manner. Amit Segal is a documented liar as described in a court decision, and this is still far from describing this despicable person - who will not find his place in the new State of Israel", Goldblum wrote, "He is not Israeli, he is religious-messianic filth, a garbage product of the murderous terror center Ofra - the largest terror center (per capita) in the world of any Jewish communities.

"Amit Segal is a despicable terrorist who supports war crimes and crimes against humanity. I do not agree with the claim against what I consider to be Yigal Sarna's very successful expression calling Amit Segal 'the court's hemorrhoid.' There is no doubt that Amit Segal broadcasts the large intestine emissions of Benjamin Netanyahu and his Judeo-Nazi coalition.

"This is also not a biological description as Yigal Sarna explains in the interview. This is a real description of the source and quality of this vile sub-journalist's broadcasts and 'commentary' (commentator from the word PERESH), who gets rewarded by his managers for ratings among a majority in a state of religious-nationalist psychopaths.

"Turn off Channel 12 when Netanyahu's hemorrhoid goes on air."

Segal claims in his lawsuit, filed through attorney Michael Dvorin, that the expressions "vile terrorist who supports war crimes and crimes against humanity" as well as "religious-messianic filth" and "garbage product of the murderous terror center Ofra" constitute defamation.

"These factual claims, and particularly the accusation that the plaintiff is 'a terrorist who supports war crimes and crimes against humanity,' are complete lies and a dangerous blood libel. They have no basis whatsoever, and their sole purpose was to defame the plaintiff, harm his good name, the professional reputation he has built and his journalistic work, and even to incite violence against him," states the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Segal is "a normative person and law-abiding citizen, he is not a terrorist and certainly does not support war crimes or crimes against humanity."

A defense statement has not yet been filed, but in response to a warning letter that Segal sent to Goldblum, the defendant replied through attorney Yonatan Berman that a reasonable reader does not understand the expression "terrorist" to mean that Segal "engages in carrying out terrorist acts" but rather that this is "an expression of opinion devoid of pretension to present facts."

Regarding the claim that Segal supports war crimes and crimes against humanity, Goldblum replied that here too this is an expression of opinion. In addition, he claimed that Segal indeed supported actions, such as the deportation of Gaza Strip residents, which are considered war crimes and crimes against humanity.

This is not the first time that Segal and Goldblum have clashed.

In 2020, Segal filed a lawsuit against Goldblum, demanding 140,000 shekels after the latter claimed that he "justified Rabin's assassination." Ultimately, Segal agreed to withdraw from the defamation lawsuit in exchange for legal costs of 5,000 shekels, a donation of 7,500 to an association and publication of an apology.

Years earlier, in 2008, Goldblum filed a lawsuit against Channel 2 News after Segal reported on the return of a doctoral student who was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization to studies in the department that Goldblum headed. This lawsuit also ended in a settlement, which in this case did not include any monetary payment except mediation costs, and its main element was the publication of a clarification stating that "Prof. Amiram Goldblum was not involved in the Hebrew University's decision on this matter and also did not ask anyone to clear a desk in the laboratory for the doctoral student."

The article was published in Hebrew on August 27