Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blasted the Netanyahu family Friday, calling them ‘disturbed’, after the family filed a defamation lawsuit against him.
Speaking on Radio 103FM Friday, Olmert downplayed the lawsuit, while doubling down on his comments on the Netanyahu family.
“I’m not bothered by it. I’m amused by this disturbed family. I didn’t give a medical opinion, I just gave my personal opinion about their behavior,” Olmert said Friday morning.
The former prime minister went on to excoriate his successor, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him a “crook” and a “swindler”.
“Israel is being led, for years now, by a crook and a swindler; a person who is totally untrustworthy. It is interesting that he never sues anyone for [calling] him that.”
The Netanyahu family recently filed a defamation suit against Olmert, seeking 837,000 shekels ($256,360) in damages.
The lawsuit cites comments Olmert made in April on Democrat TV last month.
During the interview, Olmert said: “What cannot be fixed is the mental illness of the Prime Minister, his wife, and his son. That is unfixable, and the only way to fix the country is to…institutionalize them – him, his wife, and his son…they’re mentally ill people.”