The Lod District Court ruled Tuesday afternoon that MK Tally Gotliv does not have parliamentary immunity in a defamation suit filed by political activist Shikma Bresler, but only regarding the revelation of the name of Bresler’s partner, who is a Shin Bet officer. On the rest of the claims, Judge Rami Haimovitch said Gotliv is protected by MK immunity.
Haimovitch said lawmakers enjoy broad protection to preserve democratic debate and avoid a chilling effect on speech, but that the immunity is not absolute under the Knesset Members Immunity Law and Supreme Court precedent. He said the court would dismiss claims tied to opinions and criticism of Bresler and her actions, noting she is a public figure and that debate over the causes of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack and the need to investigate them lies at the heart of a parliamentarian’s role.
At the same time, the judge found “a unique set of circumstances” that requires further examination of some factual allegations. He cited Supreme Court case law saying the deliberate exposure of a security officer’s identity is not immune, and noted that the disclosure here was not made in a neutral security context but in connection with Bresler, alongside claims about her alleged influence on the war and her meeting with the Mossad chief. He stressed that his ruling concerns only the civil defamation case and not the parallel criminal matter, where immunity is being handled by the Knesset under Section 4 of the Immunity Law.
Bresler’s lawyer, Adv. Idan Segar, welcomed the decision, saying the court refused to strike out the core of her suit against what he called a false conspiracy theory. He said, “No one has the right to maliciously spread lies about another person without being held accountable,” and called it an important day for the rule of law and equality before the law. Gottlieb responded on X that, a day after the Knesset House Committee recognized her substantive immunity, the court had rejected most of Bresler’s suit but left two issues open, including the meeting with the Mossad chief and alleged intercepted calls between Bresler’s partner and Yahya Sinwar. Bresler filed the NIS 2.6 million lawsuit in February 2024 over what she described as a campaign of fabricated claims, including that she betrayed Israel, was linked to Hamas, fled the country, or tried to erase social media posts.
The ruling comes after three stormy days of hearings. On Monday, the Knesset House Committee voted 11 to 3 to grant Gottlieb immunity from the expected indictment over publishing the Shin Bet officer’s name, and the final decision is due to go to the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.
