Neri Livneh
Neri LivnehFlash 90

The town of Itamar in Samaria has been particularly hard-hit by Palestinian Authority terrorism over the past decade, losing 20 of its 1,000 residents to various attacks.  The Fogel family, five members of which were massacred brutally by terrorists as they slept in their beds, lived in Itamar.

But in a bizarre twist, residents of the town found themselves accused of being perpetrators of terrorism by Haaretz journalist Neri Livneh in a televised appearance by her last year.

Livneh termed Itamar “a settlement populated by particularly violent people,” and claimed, “Someone there commits murder roughly once every two years.”

Livneh went on to accuse two specific men of murder. The two – Gadi Tene and Yaron Degani – have never been accused or indicted for murder, manslaughter, assault or any similar crime, much less convicted.

Now Itamar has decided to hit back with a 200,000 shekel lawsuit targeting Livneh for her remarks.

Benny Katzover, head of the Samaria Residents Council, said, “The Samaria Residents Council will take legal action against any journalist who allows himself to lie and to slander residents of Judea and Samaria. The time in which journalists felt free to disparage Jews in Judea and Samaria and to set them up as legitimate targets for murder has ended.”

Attempts to reach Livneh were unsuccessful.