Knockout victory: The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ruled today (Monday) that the Lithuanian daily newspaper Yated Ne'eman will pay 300,000 shekels, as well as legal costs and expenses totaling 30,000 shekels, to Attorney Yoav Lalom, chairman of the Noar Kahalacha association and the person who at the time filed the petition to the High Court of Justice in the case of the sectarian segregation of female students at the Beit Yaakov school in the town of Emanuel - as part of a lawsuit filed by Lalom against the newspaper, claiming that they had marked him as a target and harassed him in their articles. The newspaper was also ordered to publish an apology, in a wording that would be consistent with it, for the defamatory statements that were published, and this within ten days.
The verdict was given against Yeddot T.S.M.O. Ltd., the publisher of the newspaper, and against Yitzhak Roth, the newspaper's editor-in-chief.
The newspaper and its editors did not bother, even though 60 days had passed since the lawsuit was filed, to file a defense, despite statements by the newspaper's CEO, Zelig Orlansky, that the newspaper would file a defense. "The lawsuit against defendants 1 and 3 (Yeddot T.S.M.O. and Yitzhak Roth) is accepted in full," wrote Judge Anna Schneider.
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Lalum claimed that immediately after the petition was submitted to the High Court, the newspaper began to lead a virulent and aggressive smear campaign against the court and against it, while giving a boost to the perpetrators of segregation - discrimination and their supporters. Lalum also claims that he was not contacted for a response even once.
According to him, the newspaper and its defendant writers, together and separately, committed personal and vicious character assassination against him, when among other names they called him in their publications as "brats who petitioned the High Court of Justice", "traitorous elements from home, who flaunt their 'Haredi' attire", "tormented", "snitcher", "the town fool", "reproach and there is no peace", and more.
Lalom claimed in the lawsuit that these publications caused him irreparable harm and that the publications penetrated the consciousness of the Haredi public and caused and continue to cause him irreparable harm. According to him, the reason for the campaign against him is that his entire "sin" was that he went to court to end the segregation - the discrimination that prevailed in Beit Yaakov in Emanuel.
A similar lawsuit filed against the Haredi weekly "Bakhila" is still pending in court.
