Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to testify on Thursday in the NIS 500,000 defamation lawsuit he filed against protest activist and lawyer Gonen Ben Itzhak and journalists Uri Misgav and Ben Caspit.
The evidentiary hearing is being held before Ramle Magistrate’s Court President Judge Menahem Mizrahi at the Tel Aviv District Court building, where the case was moved for security reasons.
Thursday’s session continues Netanyahu’s testimony from May, which was cut short after roughly half an hour when the prime minister said he had to leave.
The lawsuit concerns several publications relating to Netanyahu’s health and fitness to serve, as well as an alleged meeting with former IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amiram Levin.
According to the claim, Ben Itzhak wrote on Twitter/X that he had received information that Netanyahu had been treated for pancreatic cancer, while calling on him to disclose his medical condition publicly. Netanyahu has denied that he had pancreatic cancer and argues that the publication was false and defamatory.
Questioning Netanyahus appearance, speech, medical status
The claim also cites posts by Misgav questioning Netanyahu’s appearance, speech, medical treatment, and reported hospital visits. Caspit is sued over a report concerning an alleged meeting between Netanyahu and Levin, after which Levin was said to have left disturbed and to have concluded that Netanyahu was unfit and dangerous to the state.
Netanyahu denies that such a meeting took place.
At the earlier hearing, Netanyahu said his medical condition was “proper” and “excellent,” and said he had not suffered from pancreatic cancer.
He testified that, after years of treatment for an enlarged prostate, examinations toward the end of 2025 found an early-stage cancerous growth in the prostate. Netanyahu said he underwent five radiation treatments in January and February and that subsequent examinations showed the lesion had been removed without metastasis.
The defendants deny that their publications amount to defamation.
Ben Itzhak has filed a NIS 480,000 counterclaim against Netanyahu, alleging that Netanyahu and his son published defamatory material linking him to criminal incidents unrelated to him and exposed personal details about him. He has also argued that Netanyahu’s suit is a silencing lawsuit.
Caspit has argued that his publication did not concern Netanyahu’s medical condition, but rather reported on Levin’s alleged impressions following the claimed meeting. Misgav has argued that questions about the health of an elected official fall within legitimate public criticism and that the suit is intended to silence a critical journalist.