Bereaved Parents Send Pre-Lawsuit Notice to Naftali Bennett Over Protest Claim

Bereaved parents Herzel and Mirav Hagag have sent a legal warning to former prime minister Naftali Bennett after he said in an interview earlier this month that Likud had hired “thugs with megaphones” to disrupt a Memorial Day ceremony during his tenure. The couple say the accusation is false and defamatory, and that they are preparing to sue unless Bennett apologizes.

The Hagags say they themselves organized the protest, without any outside funding or instructions. They wrote that no one sent them and that “certainly” no one paid them. They also said they had once been strong supporters of Bennett, but became disappointed after he formed a government with Mansour Abbas.

In their notice, they accused Bennett of spreading “nonsense, lies and foolishness” against bereaved families, and of wrongly claiming that they were paid “thugs” hired by Likud. They are demanding both an apology and 50,000 shekels in compensation.

Bennett’s comments were apparently referring to the only Memorial Day during his term as prime minister, in May 2022. In response to the Hagags’ move, Bennett said, “I love and cherish the Hagag family and all families of terror victims.”