WORLD NEWS MARCH 22, 2019 / 2:02 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Israeli PM Netanyahu says he will sue political rivals for libel

Stephen Farrell, Jeffrey Heller
4 MIN READ

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday he would sue two of his main political rivals for libel, claiming that they labeled him a traitor over a graft scandal involving a German submarine deal.

In a video published on his Facebook page, Netanyahu said he instructed his attorneys to take legal action against former armed forces chief Benny Gantz and ex-defense minister Moshe “Bogie” Yaalon.

Both are from the centrist Blue and White party which is seeking to unseat the veteran prime minister in an April 9 election. Opinion polls put Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and Gantz’s new party neck-and-neck.

In the video, Netanyahu said that through their “labeling of me as a traitor” Gantz, Yaalon and their party colleague Yair Lapid - who cannot be sued because he is a legislator - had committed “a blood libel that must not be ignored”.

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