Hajaj family sues Bennett for $60K over "paid protesters" claim

Herzl and Meirav Hajaj, parents of Sgt. Shir Hajaj hy"d, who was killed in the January 2017 ramming attack on the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem, filed a 200,000-shekel ($60,000) defamation suit Monday in Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court against former prime minister Naftali Bennett. The suit claims Bennett portrayed them, directly or by implication, as political operatives paid to disrupt his speeches at Memorial Day ceremonies.

The suit centers on an interview Bennett gave to journalist Omri Assenheim on Channel 13. During the interview, Bennett claimed the Likud party hired paid activists to disrupt his speeches while he was prime minister.

"Likud hires people with megaphones," Bennett said. When asked if he was certain the people were paid, he replied: "One hundred percent. One hundred percent. Likud, here, I'm saying it, please, you want? Sue me…"

The Hajajs say the remarks referred to them, since their protest against Bennett during Memorial Day ceremonies was widely covered in the media and their identities as protesters were known to the public.

The suit calls the accusations false and baseless, stating the couple never received payment from any political entity for their participation in the protest. They say their protest stemmed from a sense of betrayal over Bennett's campaign promises and their opposition to his political cooperation with Ra'am, not from any financial motive.

The parents emphasize in the suit that their protest was a personal initiative born of their beliefs and their pain, and that in the days before Memorial Day they launched a campaign against his attendance at the ceremony. They say portraying them as acting on behalf of a party and in exchange for payment harms not their good name and the credibility of their public activism over the years.

The couple, who are among the leaders of the bereaved families' forum "Choosing Life," have been active in recent years in public and legal battles against entities that maintain ties with terror organizations. They also work to memorialize their daughter through the Shir Association, which assists the needy and those of limited means.

The Hajajs are asking the court to order Bennett to pay them 200,000 shekels without proof of damage, to remove the relevant posts from social media, and to publish a public apology in the same format in which the statements were published.