Netanyahu's Son Sues Protest Activist for Defamation

Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has filed a NIS 500,000 defamation lawsuit against protest activist Ami Dror. The lawsuit targets nearly 30 publications by Dror, which Netanyahu claims contain false accusations, insults, and damage to his good name. Among the central allegations in the suit are claims that Yair Netanyahu acted violently towards his father, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even slapping him. Other publications alleged that Netanyahu Jr. left Israel to evade a criminal investigation, claims Netanyahu vehemently denies. The lawsuit states these are "false attributions with no factual basis, originating from a preposterous rumor with no basis in reality."

Beyond the alleged violence, the legal action also addresses Dror's statements regarding Netanyahu's conduct towards the families of hostages and IDF soldiers. Dror had published that "hostage families angered him and he regularly cursed them," and that soldiers guarding Netanyahu in Miami "heard him constantly cursing the IDF." Netanyahu, in his lawsuit, asserts that "hostage families never 'angered' him and he never cursed the IDF."

Further claims in the suit concern the epithets Dror used for Netanyahu and his family, including calling them the "Romanian Ceausescu family" to imply corruption and abuse of power. Dror also allegedly labeled Yair Netanyahu "head of the snake," "the psycho," "racist," "crazy," and "disturbed," accusing him of managing the family's "dark businesses" and "secret funds," and calling him the "operator" of a "poison machine." Netanyahu denies operating an organized system for spreading messages or engaging in illicit activities, arguing the publications falsely attribute to him the use of illegitimate influence mechanisms. The lawsuit, filed through attorney Chor Uriel Nizri, concludes that these actions constitute a "continuous and systematic campaign of slander and humiliation" that has caused significant damage to his good name, honor, and public standing.