Court Orders Citizen to Pay Benny Gantz NIS 40,000 for Defamation

A Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court has ordered a citizen to pay former Israeli minister Benny Gantz 40,000 shekels in damages for defamation, after the individual spread false accusations of treason against Gantz on social media. The court also awarded Gantz 5,000 shekels in legal fees. The defendant failed to submit a defense statement throughout the legal proceedings, leading the court to issue a default judgment based on Gantz's claims.

The case centered on a December 2024 social media post titled "The Great Betrayal Plot." The post alleged that Gantz, a former IDF chief of staff and defense minister, along with other senior officials, was involved in a conspiracy to facilitate a mass kidnapping as part of a plan to establish a Palestinian state. The post specifically claimed Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot were "collaborators of the Americans deliberately planted in the War Cabinet."

Gantz filed a defamation lawsuit, asserting the publication was entirely false and damaged his reputation. The judge, Eliyash Ben Yitzhak, acknowledged that public figures must tolerate criticism but emphasized that their reputations are not public property. The court ruled that accusing someone of treason crosses the line of permissible criticism and constitutes clear defamation.

While Gantz had sought double damages without proving financial loss, the court denied this request, stating there was insufficient evidence of malicious intent due to the lack of a defense. This ruling aligns with a recent trend of Israeli courts imposing significant penalties on individuals spreading fake news online, including a previous case where Yair Golan was awarded 2.5 million shekels in a similar defamation suit against Sara Netanyahu.