Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will be compensated tens of thousands of shekels as part of the lawsuit against Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi. This is what the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court ruled today (Monday) after filing a defamation lawsuit against the Twitter tweeter Yigal Malka and Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi. As you may remember, Rabbi Mizrachi claimed that Bennett's mother was not Jewish and Malka distributed to his followers the tweet in which it was claimed that the former prime minister "drew 50 million NIS from the state coffers to his private account".
In the discussion of the words of Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, it was reported on the IDF radio that Bennett spoke harshly on the witness stand about the statements made against him by the rabbi. "Shame and disgrace!!" the Prime Minister was enraged and added, "They defamed my mother, her entire family was destroyed in the Holocaust." Bennett's mother, Myrna, who was present at the scene, said in a choked voice: "I came to Israel because I am a proud Jew." There is a lawsuit against Mizrachi for 100,000 shekels, but the judge suggested that the compensation would be in the range of 40,000 - 80,000 shekels. In light of what was said, the court ruled that Rabbi Mizrachi would compensate the former Prime Minister of Israel with tens of thousands of shekels.
Another discussion was held around a defamation claim for half a million shekels against the online tweeter Yigal Malka. According to a report by 12 news reporter Avivit Myasnikov, during the hearing, the judge believed that a large part of the statements should not be found in a defamation lawsuit. It was also suggested to reduce some of the publications indicated in the statement of claim. According to the judge: "It seems that most of the statements can be taken as an expression of opinion." In addition, it is claimed that the statements concerning the relationship between the Bennett couple raise several difficulties and are probably crossing a red line.