Court Rules Israel’s Ex-PM Ehud Olmert Defamed Netanyahus by Calling Them ‘Mentally Ill’

A court in Tel Aviv has ruled that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defamed former and incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara and his son Yair in two interviews in April 2021 in which he asserted that the family was “mentally ill.” Olmert was ordered by the Magistrate’s Court in Tel Aviv to pay the Netanyahus about $28,000 and court costs. He had argued in court that what he said was true, but the court said that Olmert did not bring sufficient evidence to prove the truth of his claim, not even through hearsay. Yair Netanyahu was awarded the smallest amount of the financial damages since Olmert’s attorneys showed that he has attacked many public figures and called them crazy. During the trial, the Netanyahus denied as false reports that Sara was hospitalized for mental issues in Austria in March 2020. The court had rejected the Olmert team’s request for the disclosure of any medical records of the Netanyahus that might prove their mental health status. Binyamin Netanyahu currently is on trial in several corruption cases against him, and last week was tapped to form a new government.