Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared Thursday morning at the Tel Aviv District Court to testify in his defamation lawsuit against journalists Uri Misgav and Ben Caspit, and attorney Gonen Ben Yitzhak. The case centers on publications about his medical condition, including claims tied to the cancer diagnosis he received, which he says contained serious falsehoods about his health.
During the hearing, attorney Tali Livlich pressed Netanyahu on his earlier claim that the suit targeted people who had written that he was terminally ill. She asked where Misgav had written that, and Netanyahu replied, "It will take a long time until I find the place. It was said that I have pancreatic cancer." Livlich responded that Misgav had never written that he had pancreatic cancer or that he was terminally ill. Judge Mizrahi cut off the exchange, saying, "We move on. If it exists, it exists. If it does not, it does not."
Netanyahu said he had not prepared specially for the hearing and had come with "the truth." He then accused Misgav of repeatedly publishing lies about his medical condition, claiming that Misgav knew he did not have pancreatic cancer and later falsely suggested there were metastases. Livlich said Netanyahu was not answering the questions, but he replied that he would answer in his own way and told her, "You are not threatening me." She countered that Misgav had never written about cancer or metastases.
The court also discussed Netanyahu's appearance on "60 Minutes," with Livlich saying he looked "very tired and sloppy" in the interview. Netanyahu dismissed the comment, while his lawyer objected and the judge joked that others in the courtroom also looked very tired. Netanyahu said the medical documents submitted to the court showed that the first procedure was benign, the second found a small spot, and that the tiny cancerous tumor was removed with no metastases. He also argued that revealing hospital locations and access methods could endanger him because Iran has said it wants to kill him and his family.
The questioning extended to hospital visits, security arrangements, and his doctors. Netanyahu described Misgav as radical for trying to expose his, his son’s, and his wife’s locations, and ended by rejecting the allegations outright: "What can I do that I do not have pancreatic cancer? I am not responsible for this conspiracy cult."
