Tel Aviv Court Orders Journalist Yossi Klein to Pay Yair Netanyahu and Likud 30,000 Shekels

The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Haaretz journalist Yossi Klein against Yair Netanyahu and the Likud party on Thursday. Klein was ordered to pay 15,000 shekels to each defendant, totaling 30,000 shekels in legal costs. The lawsuit, originally seeking approximately 315,000 shekels, stemmed from posts on the social media platform X in February 2023. Klein had published an opinion column titled "Attention: 1933 Is Here," discussing protests against the government and warning of potential escalation.

Two days after Klein's column, journalist Yair Levi tweeted what appeared to be a quote from Klein, which was later deemed a distortion portraying Klein as endorsing violence. The Likud party filed a police complaint against Klein and others, accusing them of incitement and calls for civil disobedience, and Yair Netanyahu shared Likud's statement. Klein claimed his words were misrepresented to suggest he encouraged violence.

The court accepted Klein's argument that Levi's original tweet distorted his words, falsely implying regret over the absence of bloodshed. However, the court found Klein did not prove that Likud or Yair Netanyahu published the distorted quote themselves. Likud's publication included only part of Levi's tweet and expressed the party's political stance on Klein's column, not presenting the claims as proven facts. Therefore, the court ruled Likud's publication was not defamatory.

The court also rejected the defendants' truth defense, clarifying that Klein's full column did not advocate violence but warned of possible escalation. The judgment stated Klein was merely predicting events and not promoting violence. Even if the publication were defamatory, the defendants would have a good faith defense as it involved expressing opinions on a public issue within reasonable bounds. Consequently, the entire lawsuit was dismissed, and Klein was ordered to pay the defendants' legal fees.