Retired General Israel Ziv Awarded $45,000 in Defamation Suit Over Oct. 7 Conspiracy Theory

A Kfar Saba court has ordered attorney Ido Shifoni to pay retired Major General Israel Ziv approximately 168,000 shekels (about $45,000 USD) in a defamation lawsuit. Shifoni had spread a conspiracy theory alleging that Ziv, along with retired Major Generals Yair Golan and Noam Tibon, had prior knowledge of the October 7th Hamas attacks but failed to warn the IDF.

According to the ruling by Judge Ronen Peleg, Shifoni propagated this theory for political motives, aiming to portray the three as traitors and to destabilize the government. The judge noted that such publications tarnish the heroic actions of individuals like Ziv, who rushed to the scene of the attacks and faced significant personal risk.

The court dismissed all of Shifoni's defenses, finding that his publication was not made in good faith and did not raise a legitimate question. The judge also rejected the claim that this was a "gag lawsuit," affirming the validity of Ziv's claim and stating that the power imbalance between the parties was not significant.

Shifoni, who operates a popular online legal channel, was ordered to remove the defamatory posts within 14 days and to publish the court's ruling on his social media pages for at least 30 consecutive days. He was also ordered to pay an additional 10,000 shekels to the state treasury for his procedural conduct.

In a related development, Yair Golan intends to file a similar lawsuit against Sara Netanyahu, alleging she spread a conspiracy theory about him concerning October 7th.