Bibi Wins $32K Libel Suit Against ‘Sara Kicked Him Out’ Reporter
Bibi?s Svengali? Sara Netanyahu was pilloried over the dress she wore to the Knesset opening ceremony. But beyond gossip, critics voice serious concerns about the outsized role she plays in controlling her Prime Minister husband. Image by getty images
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara won a libel suit on Sunday against an Israeli journalist who claimed that she once kicked her husband out of their car during an argument.
A Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court ordered Igal Sarna to pay the couple some $32,500 in damages over what it said was his unproven account in a Facebook post last year.
Netanyahu testified at the trial that the alleged incident, which Sarna said he learned about from an acquaintance citing one of the prime minister’s security guards, never took place.
“He crossed the line,” Netanyahu said of Sarna, who writes for the mass circulation Yedioth Ahronoth, a newspaper often critical of the Israeli leader. “It’s a gross lie, absurd.”
Netanyahu and his wife have a stormy relationship with the Israeli media. In January, he described the media as “left-wing” and “Bolshevik” and said they were out to bring him down.
In 2016, a Jerusalem labor court ruled that Sara Netanyahu insulted and raged at household staff in the prime minister’s official residence. She is currently under police investigation for using state funds for personal spending.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
