Avner Netanyahu
Avner NetanyahuCredit: Marc Israel Sellum/POOL/Flash 90

The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court issued a restraining order against the self described "social activist" Barak Cohen on Sunday, a week after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's son Avner filed a complaint against him, accusing him of harassment and infringement of privacy.

Cohen, a former attorney who was suspended by the Israeli Bar Association in 2017 for harassing bank executives, has a notorious history of harassing public figures by publicly insulting them, videoing the encounter and uploading the video on social media.

The judge ruled that "Cohen's behavior reaches the point of threatening harassment." Cohen will be required to stay at least 150 meters (492 feet) from Avner Netanyahu, except in the case of an incidental meeting between the two. The restraining order is valid for six months.

Last Saturday night, Cohen followed Avner Netanyahu to a restaurant in Tel Aviv and began shouting, “We ran into Avner Netanyahu, the son of the weak, corrupt [man]. A family of thieves. Your father is a corrupt thief. You should go away. What about your father's thefts? How much did he steal in the end? How much did he get in bribery?”

In May, Cohen harassed the elderly billionaire and Netanyahu supporter Sheldon Adelson, cursing at him and shouting “You live too long.”

Last August, Cohen publicly posted a list of personal phone numbers of Israeli politicians, including President Reuven Rivlin and Ministers Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett, claiming that his actions were for "public service." Tzipi Livni, leader of the opposition at the time, said that the number that Barak posted for her actually belonged to someone else, who was enduring a family tragedy, and requested that the public refrain from harassing her.

Cohen has also harassed Avner's brother, Yair, Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev and Rabbi Rafi Peretz. In 2017, he was questioned by police after publicly insulting Regev while she was out with her family in a public area in Tel Aviv.

"I filed a harassment complaint with the police today against Barak Cohen," Avner wrote on his Facebook page last Sunday. "Time after time he follows me, comes to the places where I am and begins videoing me and insulting me. There's a way to conduct political arguments. Bullying and harassment of uninvolved civilians are unequivocally not the way."