IDF soldier returning from Gaza (file)
IDF soldier returning from Gaza (file)Flash 90

TV hostess Ilana Dayan will not have to pay NIS 300,000 in damages to IDF Captain R., whom she portrayed in a 2004 documentary as being involved in a “verified kill” case during an IDF operation. The soldier was found not to have been culpable in the case that occurred on the Philadelphia Route in Gaza, but the fact that R. was portrayed in a promo for Dayan's program as being guilty in the incident was not sufficient reason to award him the damages, the High Court ruled Thursday.

The case involved a portion of Dayan's Uvda (Fact) program which questioned R.'s role in the death of an Arab child in Gaza. The girl was shot as she approached an IDF checkpoint, and was apparently killed. The report implied that R. went up to the child as she was lying on the ground and shot her again, to “verify” that she was dead.

Such practices are against the IDF code of ethics, and as a result of the broadcast the soldier was investigated. A year later, he was cleared, at which point the soldier sued Dayan, accusing her of doing an inaccurate “hatchet job” on him, and implying that he was guilty and that it was just a matter of time until he was tried and convicted.

The case, which reached court in 2009, was decided in favor of the plaintiff, and R. was awarded NIS 300,000 in damages, along an additional NIS 80,000 against Dayan's employer, Tel-Ad Networks. Dayan and Tel-Ad appealed, and a year later, the High Court decided to overturn the decision against Dayan. She will not have to pay the NIS 300,000, but Tel-Ad, which was responsible for a very slanted promo for the Dayan broadcast, will have to pay its share, the court said.

R's attorneys appealed that decision on the basis of several technical points, but the court on Thursday confirmed its earlier decision.

The consensus among many in the IDF and the media was that Dayan had indeed done a “hatchet job” on R. In 2012, journalist Mati Golan said that it appeared to him that Dayan was unjust in her coverage of R. “I took it on myself to look out for Lieutenant R, I published several articles about the matter,” said Golan. “Dayan, who so supports freedom of expression, threatened me with a slander suit on several occasions.”