Netanyahu Rejects Health and Cognitive Claims During Libel Trial Testimony

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared Thursday morning at the Tel Aviv District Court to continue testifying in his defamation lawsuit against journalists Ben Caspit and Uriel Meshgav, and protest activist and lawyer Gonen Ben-Yitzhak. During cross-examination, he clashed with Meshgav’s attorney, Tali Liblich, over publications attributed to Meshgav and claims about Netanyahu’s physical and cognitive condition.

Liblich reminded the court that Netanyahu had previously said the lawsuit targeted writers who claimed he was a “terminally ill” patient, and asked where that allegation appeared in Meshgav’s material. Netanyahu replied, “It will take a long time for me to find the place. It said I had pancreatic cancer.” Liblich said Meshgav never wrote that Netanyahu had pancreatic cancer or that he was terminally ill. Netanyahu answered, “I deny it.” Judge Mizrahi intervened and said Netanyahu would not be allowed to read from the complaint in court.

Netanyahu later said Meshgav “spreads lies, takes things and presents them as facts, builds piles of lies,” and claimed the purpose was “to show that I am not in good health.” Asked whether he had reviewed the lawsuit materials, he said he had only “skimmed” them. He also said Meshgav had seen his medical file and knew he did not have pancreatic cancer, yet still wrote about possible metastases in the head or neck.

Liblich responded that Netanyahu did not know his own lawsuit and that Meshgav had not written that he had cancer or metastases. Netanyahu then said attempts to question his cognitive state were disproved by his many public appearances, speeches, and cabinet meetings, calling the whole matter “nonsense.” When asked about a past slip in which he called his son Avner “Avraham,” he said, “That happens too,” and called it a weak and unsuccessful attempt to judge his cognitive sharpness.