Yair Netanyahu ordered to pay NIS 500,000 in defamation lawsuit

The decision to charge him was made after the prime minister's son did not file a letter of defense and also did not accept the lawsuit - claiming that it is "ridiculous and delusional."

MARCH 2, 2021 12:23

Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen in court in Tel Aviv on December 10, 2018, where he testified in a NIS 140,000 libel suit he filed last year against Abie Binyamin, a social activist. (photo credit: FLASH90) — Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen in court in Tel Aviv on December 10, 2018, where he testified in a NIS 140,000 libel suit he filed last year against Abie Binyamin, a social activist.

(photo credit: FLASH90)

Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was ordered by the Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court on Monday to pay NIS 500,000 in a defamation lawsuit to Dana Cassidy, a political activist from Blue and White.

The lawsuit came as a result of Netanyahu making baseless claims on his Twitter account insinuating that she and Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz were in an intimate and sexual relationship, Hebrew media reported.

מישהו יודע מי זאת? pic.twitter.com/nWtzbkMZ46
— Yair Netanyahu (@YairNetanyahu) February 23, 2020

The lawsuit was filed in August 2020.

The decision to rule against Netanyahu was made after the prime minister's son failed to file a letter of defense and also did not accept the lawsuit - claiming that it was "ridiculous, delusional and baseless," saying that it was "nothing more than a publicity stunt."

Cassidy claimed that Netanyahu used an ordinary photo of the plaintiff with Gantz to produce blatant allusions that she was intimately involved with the Blue and White leader.

כל אחד והכוס תה שלו. pic.twitter.com/gahHe0nps9
— חדשות אמת (@TrueNewsIL) February 23, 2020

In addition to volunteering for the Blue and White Party during the last Knesset elections, Cassidy is also an animal rights activist.

As for the younger Netanyahu, he is no stranger to being at the center of controversial issues. Around the time that the lawsuit was filed against him last August, he was slapped with a restraining order by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, which prohibited him from tweeting or publishing commentary about leaders of the protest movement against his father for six months, after he referred to them as "aliens."

Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.