Yair Golan Sues Sara Netanyahu for Defamation Over Oct 7th Remarks

Former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff and current Democratic Party chairman Yair Golan has filed a multi-million shekel defamation lawsuit against Sara Netanyahu. The suit stems from remarks made by Netanyahu in a Channel 14 interview, where she implied Golan had prior knowledge of the October 7th Hamas attack. Golan asserts that these allegations, which he describes as "conspiracy theories" and "lies," have led to a 450% surge in incitement against him, forcing him to significantly increase his personal security.

The lawsuit details that intelligence warnings were received about potential harm to Golan following the interview, alongside a report documenting the rise in online incitement. It also states that a Netanyahu advisor reviewed the interview before its broadcast, suggesting a premeditated effort to incite against Golan. The suit goes beyond standard defamation, seeking unprecedented civil damages for incitement to violence, referencing the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 as a cautionary tale.

In a statement, Golan and his legal team characterized the lawsuit as a "civil indictment" against a government that has "lost all brakes." They argue that the Netanyahu family and their proxies have a pattern of labeling critics as traitors to evade responsibility for national failures, attempting to rewrite history and demonize those who acted to save lives on October 7th. Golan specifically accused Prime Minister Netanyahu of a "family business" of paranoia and a "planned move" to spread lies as political pressure mounts.

Golan's attorney, Giora Ardinest, emphasized that Netanyahu's implication that Golan was "dressed and ready" early on October 7th was a thinly veiled insinuation of prior knowledge, designed to incite violence. He stressed that Golan, like all Israelis, was awakened by alarms and then rushed to the Gaza envelope to help rescue civilians, risking his life. Ardinest vowed that such incitement would not go unanswered and that those responsible would pay the price, asserting that the truth will prevail and the current government will be replaced.