Yair Altman, the legal correspondent for Israel's Channel 14, is suing a Twitter user for NIS 50,000 after the user compared his affiliation with the network to membership in the Nazi party, Srugim reported Thursday.
The lawsuit comes days after Altman announced earlier this week that he is leaving Channel 14 to pursue a new path.
The dispute began with a post in which Altman described the hostility he has faced over his job. "The personal attacks on me simply for being at 14, without even knowing what I think (as a result of generalizing thinking), are not limited to close friends, but also come from extended family members," he wrote.
The user responded by quoting Altman's post and altering it to read: "The personal attacks on me simply for being in the N*zi party."
Altman filed the claim through his attorney, Shlomi Weinberg. "This is not mere cursing or substantive criticism of the plaintiff's journalistic work, but a personal and humiliating comparison that presents his work at Channel 14 as membership in the Nazi party," the statement of claim reads.
A further passage, which Srugim attributed to Altman, states: "This comparison, with the severe historical and moral baggage it carries, harms the plaintiff's dignity and his good name, even when it is made within the framework of public and political discourse."
No statement of defense has yet been filed.
