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Legal Battle Escalates

Sara Netanyahu Demands NIS 5M From Defendant

Prime Minister's wife countersues after being threatened with defamation claim over Channel 14 interview in which she described arson attempt outside family residence

Sara Netanyahu

Attorney Uriel Nizri, representing Prime Minister's wife Sara Netanyahu, responded Thursday to a pre-lawsuit warning letter sent to his client by Eyal Giler, one of the defendants in the Jerusalem dumpster fire case, by demanding financial compensation of his own.

Giler had sent a defamation warning letter following an interview Sara Netanyahu gave to Channel 14, in which she addressed the arson incident outside the Netanyahu family residence in Jerusalem. During the interview, Netanyahu stated: "The police and security forces found tires and barrels placed around the house to set them on fire, with us inside. The people who lit, or ignited the dumpsters — these weren't dumpsters; it was a ring of fire around our house, so that everyone would suffocate and maybe die. And it's not just us; I understood it affected other people. The intention was really to kill."

Giler claimed Netanyahu's remarks constituted defamation, noting that the defendants in the dumpster fire case are charged with lesser offenses than what Mrs. Netanyahu alleged.

According to a report in Maariv, Nizri's response letter on behalf of Sara Netanyahu stated: "My client rejects with contempt and in its entirety all the claims, false accusations and false representations raised in your letter. Your letter is nothing but a desperate, cynical and perverse attempt to turn the victim into the accuser, and to engineer a false consciousness aimed at intimidating my client and preventing her from voicing her justified outcry against the repeated threats to her life and the lives of her family members."

"I hereby clarify and emphasize that no flaw, defect or trace of defamation [was included] in my client's words during the Channel 14 interview. My client's words reflected pure factual truth according to her position and opinion, and the indictment does not negate this."

"My client did not present new facts about the events but rather expressed her opinion on what transpired alongside the fact that there is no greater audacity than stated, when the dumpster arson is absolute and refined truth according to law alongside the lawful expression of her opinion. When my client described the tangible sense of threat to her life and the lives of those close to her, she described a difficult and dangerous reality that was imposed on her and her immediate surroundings."

The letter further stated: "Instead of your client filing delusional, baseless and disconnected lawsuits, it would be better for him and his associates to sit quietly and wait lawfully for their sentence behind bars. Your letter, which constitutes a desperate attempt to generate media headlines in the midst of a political smear campaign, establishes for my client independent causes of action for serious, false and defamatory libel. My client intends to pursue full criminal prosecution against your client, and upon his conviction in the criminal proceedings for his actions, our office intends to file a civil lawsuit derivative to the criminal case against him."

The letter concluded: "My client will not apologize, will not remove statements and will not pay even one worn shekel to your client, and will act with all legal and judicial means at her disposal to defend her rights and to block the improper attempt to intimidate her. Should your client transfer financial compensation in the amount of NIS 5,000,000 for my client, then no lawsuit will be filed."

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