Liberman Sues for Libel in Gaza War Leak

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman has gone to court to sue for damages over the allegation that he was responsible for the leak of the secret draft of the comptroller’s report on the 2014 Gaza war.

Channel 10 military reporter Or Heller accused Liberman of leaking the story.

Liberman is seeking 140,000 shekels in damages for defamation. He says the amount will be donated to the Association for the Well-being of Israel’s Soldiers. He is also demanding that Heller issue an apology “for the false accusation” against him.

On May 5, portions of the report found their way into the local media, raising an uproar. The leaks contained criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and former IDF chief-of-staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz for failing to fully anticipate or inform the Security Cabinet of the Hamas tunnel threat, among other things.

Following the leak, State Comptroller Joseph Shapira called for an investigation into who leaked the draft report.

The final version has yet to be made public.