Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, received a third demand letter on Wednesday stemming from her recent interview on Channel 14. This latest letter comes from Ayal Giller, who was detained in connection with what has become known as the "trash bin arson affair." Giller's attorneys claim that statements made by Netanyahu during the broadcast constitute defamation.
The legal team representing Giller, attorneys Tali Ben Simon and Yadin Dan Giladi from the Otet Atsurim (Surrounding Detainees) legal network, focused on Netanyahu's description of an incident involving burning containers near the Netanyahu residence. During the interview, she stated: "The police and security forces found tires and barrels that were placed around the house to set them on fire, with us inside. The trash bin lighters, or arsonists, these weren't trash bins. It was a ring of fire around our house, so that everyone would suffocate and perhaps die."
Netanyahu added: "And it's not just us. I understood that it harmed other people. The intention was really to kill."
According to the demand letter, a reasonable viewer would interpret these statements as Giller intending to cause Netanyahu's death and the deaths of her family members through fire, either directly or as an indirect consequence.
The attorneys argued that "the publication constitutes serious defamation. It is liable to humiliate our client in the eyes of others, make him a target for hatred and contempt, and disgrace him through false allegations of criminal thought and intent that were never attributed to him and are not attributed to him even according to the most severe claims detailed in the indictment in the case that is still pending before the court."
Giller's legal representatives are demanding that Netanyahu publish an apology and pay him 100,000 shekels (approximately $27,000). The letter warned that failure to meet these demands would expose her to a lawsuit seeking one million shekels. A statement from the Otet Atsurim network said: "The prime minister's wife has embarked on a dangerous series of lies that permits the blood of first-rate Israeli patriots. We will not allow her to pollute public discourse and incite against citizens. She will apologize, and she will pay."
