Former soldier Rebecca Re'em today filed a $6 million defamation lawsuit through the Shurat Hadin organization against senior BDS operative Suhir Napal, who spread false information that led to threats and incitement to murder against her.
Re'em was accused by the BDS movement of being responsible for the murder of "Palestinian" paramedic Razan al-Najjar, who was killed by IDF fire on the Gaza border about two years ago.
Rebecca Re'em, 26, a young Jewish woman from California, immigrated to Israel in 2012 and enlisted in the IDF for a training position in the Education Corps. One day as part of her service, a recruiting photo of her holding weapons and protective equipment was published on the IDF's official Facebook page.
About three years after Rivka's release from the IDF, in 2018, Suhir Napal, a key BDS operative living in California, posted on her personal Facebook page claiming that Rivka was responsible for paramedic Razan al-Najjar's death during one of the "return marches".
The same post was circulated on social media among BDS operatives and pro-Palestinian organizations in the United States, who began threatening and harassing Rebecca and her family on a daily basis. About two years after the post was published, Rebecca decided to turn to the Shurat Hadin human rights organization. This week the organization filed a defamation lawsuit against Suhair Napal, the author of the post, for $6 million in California court. After receiving the lawsuit, Napal blocked her Facebook page profile to hide the incriminating evidence.
The indictment emphasized that this was a blood libel since Rebecca had never been in the Gaza Strip as part of her military service, as she had served in a training and non-combat role only. Rebecca was also discharged from the IDF in 2015, about three years before Al Najar's death. After her release, Rebecca was an activist for human rights and even participated in joint Israeli-Arab delegations in Jordan and the Judea and Samaria area, as well as volunteering in refugee camps in South America and Greece.
Shurat Hadin organization President Adv. Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, stated: "It seems we're returning to the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion and the anti-Semitic blood libels of the past. Rebecca and her family were condemned and threatened with murder just because she was a soldier in the IDF. The war by haters of Israel has also taken a legal toll, and Rebecca's lawsuit is at the forefront of the fight against the global boycott movement against the State of Israel. BDS activists will know that they themselves may be personally responsible for their anti-Zionist activities and even pay a heavy price."