Shmuel Medad, the director of the legal aid organization Honenu, has filed a claim for half a million shekels against journalist Uri Blau and the Hashomrim and Calcalist news services.
The claim was filed through attorney Menashe Yado of Honenu, and follows an article by Blau in which he claims that Medad joined the Prime Minister's meeting with the families of hostages and stated that his own daughter was among the hostages, and he was willing to sacrifice her so as not to stop the attack on Hamas.
The lawsuit was filed with the Rabbinical Court for monetary affairs "Eretz Hemdah." Medad commented: "That court, according to the Torah, is the place to deal with people like Blau and those who employ him."
The statement of claim by attorney Yado details how Blau attempted to defame Medad. "In the article, the claimant is portrayed as an imposter, who presents himself to the Prime Minister, the families of the hostages, and all others present as the father of a kidnapped daughter that he does not have, who is willing to sacrifice her so as not to harm the IDF's chances of victory. In the words of the article: 'In the middle of October, Netanyahu met with representatives of the families of the hostages for the first time. Suddenly, Medad entered the room, despite not having any direct connection to any of the hostages. Nevertheless, according to those who were present, he told the Prime Minister that if saving his daughter meant damaging the IDF's chances of victory, he is willing to give her up.' After the article was published on Ynet, it was published on Hashomrim, it was published again in Calcalist and Ynet."
Yado emphasized in the statement of claim that Medad joined the meeting as a representative of the "Tikva Forum," which coordinates families of the hostages, and did not say anything for the entire meeting. "The claimant is not a parent to a kidnapped daughter, and in the meeting with the Prime Minister in which he participated, he did not say a word, neither on his initiative nor after being asked to speak. All claims to the contrary are lies and falsehoods."
"This lie recycles a media buzzword that became popular around the time of the meeting. Already on the night the meeting was held, Ynet published that the meeting included 'a man who we had never met, who said that he was ready to pay with his daughter's life.' The next day, Ziv Rubenstein posted that the claimant was the individual who entered the meeting, lavished attention on Netanyahu, and said he was the representative of a family, even though, as Rubenstein said, there was no such family. Rubenstein is essentially the first one to falsely and publicly identify the claimant as an imposter father of a hostage."
"The besmirching of the claimant has gained significant media attention, but due to our judicial action, Channel 12 News investigated and published an encompassing article about the meeting, in which it was stated that Medad did not say a word throughout the meeting. 'The same Shmuel Medad, the representative asked to speak at the time, did not say a word', indicating that the slander directed at Medad was disproven on that same evening by a prime-time investigation on Channel 12 News.
"Despite this, as stated above, and based on deliberate disregard of the facts as publicly clarified and without requesting the claimant's comment, they published lies regardless. The publication was doubtless driven by a desire to harm the claimant and the Tikva Forum that Medad helped to establish. These statements are 100% pure slander and the defendants will have no choice but to pay reparations."