Sara Netanyahu's NIS 500,000 libel suit against Keshet, Channel 12 News, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (Kan), reporter Omri Maniv and Telegram channel operator Udi Mizrachi took a sharp turn Sunday in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court. Netanyahu reached a settlement with the media outlets, and the case now continues only against Mizrachi.
The suit concerns reports alleging that the prime minister's wife shared classified security information with associates, including details of the strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, three days before it was carried out.
At the opening of the hearing, Judge Weinshel proposed that Netanyahu's attorney, Uriel Hor-Nizri, and the lawyers for the media defendants resolve the dispute by agreement. "The general context raises questions of fairness, but you can settle the case by consent," the judge said, according to reports from the courtroom.
The parties then reached a settlement. According to Walla, Netanyahu agreed to withdraw her claims against the media defendants on condition that the court's decision be published in the same manner and format as the original reports. The settlement is not a judicial finding on whether the reports were true or false.
The case against Mizrachi continues because he has not retracted his claims. Mizrachi runs the Telegram channel "Hadashot BaZman" (News in Real Time) and was behind one of the central publications in the affair.
"The grandmother was a chatterbox"
Mizrachi testified that the information reached him through a chain of people, at the center of which was Vered Gross, whom he described as a close friend of Sara Netanyahu. He said he never received the information directly from Gross or from Netanyahu, but through Gross's grandson.
"Every time we wanted information, we would ask the grandson, and he would ask his grandmother, and she would ask Netanyahu," Mizrachi told the court. Netanyahu, who was in the courtroom, laughed audibly.
Mizrachi said the information about the Nasrallah strike reached him before the operation. "The conversation was before they flew to the U.S. to meet Trump. Every publication from this source was accurate. We published three days before the strike that Nasrallah's days were numbered," he said.
Asked by the judge how he obtained information about the specific timing, Mizrachi said he had never spoken with Gross directly. "The grandmother was a chatterbox. I didn't speak with her directly, but she's a lovely and reliable woman. At a certain point I understood it was dangerous, but I didn't want to expose her or harm her," he said.
According to journalist Gilad Cohen, who reported from the hearing, Mizrachi also addressed his reports on a possible ground operation in Lebanon. "It was concrete information, and I also reported it to the mayor of Kiryat Shmona. Every time, we would send Vered's grandson so the grandmother would bring things," he said, adding that he did not know the exact date of the ground entry and had been careful to be precise.
The judge also raised a conversation with Nati Hadad in which Mizrachi was accused of turning a 15-year-old boy into an intelligence source. "That boy's grandmother is a bigmouth," Mizrachi replied.
Mizrachi said he eventually realized the information could be sensitive from a security standpoint and tried to alert officials. "Before I was interviewed, I told people in the IDF that I was willing to disclose my information because it was already dangerous," he said.
Asked why he never approached Gross directly, he said: "What for? I didn't want her to be harmed. Only because they filed the lawsuit am I being exposed now. On December 1, I passed it to military intelligence and to the censor."
Netanyahu: "I have no access to security information"
In an affidavit filed before the hearing, Sara Netanyahu confirmed that she knows Gross and that the two meet and speak occasionally. She denied passing Gross classified information about planned strikes in Iran or the Nasrallah strike.
"I do not participate in security discussions and I have no access to security information," she stated.
Netanyahu also said she does not intend to call witnesses.
That leaves the court with two conflicting accounts. On one side is Mizrachi's claim that he published information passed to him through Gross's grandson, which he says originated with Sara Netanyahu. On the other is Netanyahu's denial that she shared any such information with her friend.
The court has not yet ruled on whether Mizrachi's reports were accurate, whether Sara Netanyahu was their source, or whether they amount to libel.
