Nir Barkat against Yated Ne'eman: "False and malicious advertising" • Inside: The warning

June 12, 2014   

 Jerusalem Municipality vs. Yated Ne'eman: In an official letter from the Jerusalem Municipality's legal office sent to the management of Yated Ne'eman, it was stated that the municipality is preparing to file a lawsuit against the newspaper for the publications that the municipality allegedly operates a Shabbat desecration and break-in complex. "There is no truth in them, they are false defamatory statements that constitute a violation of the Defamation Law," the letter said. The lawsuit against the newspaper further stated: "The article includes unfounded and false details, the purpose of which is to maliciously defame the Jerusalem Municipality, the municipality's management, and its head." The Jerusalem Municipality also specifically addresses the accusations that the municipality is about to operate a virtual beach complex in the station complex, violating the holy Sabbath and breaking into the premises. In the lawsuit, the mayor clarifies for the first time: "The Jerusalem Municipality, the municipality's management, and of course the mayor do not operate, do not initiate, do not support, do not budget for, and do not participate in any way in this activity." According to the municipality, this is a complex operated by a private entity that is not a municipality at all and that has no connection to the municipality. "The planned activity in the station complex, to which the article refers, is the activity of a private entrepreneur on private land, which is being carried out without any connection to the Jerusalem Municipality, the municipality's management, or its head. Linking the activity to the municipality and the mayor is false and malicious." At the end of the letter, the municipality demands that the newspaper apologize for publishing the defamatory article, otherwise legal steps will be taken later. "We view the content of the article seriously, and the false connection between the municipality and the mayor and the private enterprise, and that this is a blatant violation of the Defamation Law.".