Olmert in court
Olmert in courtFlash 90

Despite being found guilty of defamation against the Netanyahu family, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is unrepentant and still refuses to back down on claims he made regarding the Prime Minister-designate, his wife, and son, around two years ago.

Olmert was being interviewed on Democracy TV when he stated that Netanyahu, his wife, Sara, and their son Yair were all "incurably mentally ill" and should have been hospitalized. The Netanyahu family sued and last week, a Tel Aviv court found Olmert guilty of defamation, although the sum of damages awarded was far below the amount claimed.

On Saturday evening, Olmert was interviewed on Channel 12 News and responded derisively regarding the amounts he was ordered to pay: 20 thousand shekels to the Prime Minister-designate, 35 thousand to his wife, and 7,500 shekels to their son.

"I have no intention of appealing the decision of the court," Olmert said. "I respect the judge's decision. It also happens to make a very blatant assertion regarding the Netanyahu family. A ruling that the reputation of the Prime Minister is worth twenty thousand shekels is a ruling that his reputation is not worth very much at all. That is a very noteworthy thing to say - that his reputation is not worth much," he stressed.

Olmert went on to describe his "grave concern, not at the court ruling, but at the fact that a damaged human being should not be running the country. It has been proven that his wife and son are both involved in his decision-making processes."

Olmert also criticized the imminent appointment of Otzma Yehudit head MK Itamar Ben-Gvir as Public Security Minister. "Netanyahu is taking a lighted torch and setting the country ablaze with this appointment," he said. "Ben-Gvir is going to have authority over the Special Forces, over Sheikh Jarrah, over the Negev... We've already seen how he set the country on fire during Operation Guardian of the Walls with his provocations at Sheikh Jarrah," he noted.