Ilan Lukacs, a reporter for News 12, has reached a compromise agreement with Avner Netanyahu, the Prime Minister's son, and will pay him 12.5 thousand shekels in compensation for defaming him.
About a month ago, Lukacs tweeted on his Twitter account: "Avner Netanyahu waved from the balcony to protesters who praised Rabin's assassination and now there's a debate about whether he heard what they were singing. Doesn't remind me of any event from the past.".
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The prime minister's son sent Lukacs a warning letter through a lawyer, who wrote that Lukacs's words were false: "My client, who lives in one of the apartments next to the prime minister's residence, went out at around 8:00 PM to see protesters from the Likud party from the balcony of his apartment, some of whom he knows, and waved to them after one of them recognized him and shouted at him. At 8:00 PM, there was no sign of the La Familia people, and they only arrived about three hours later - around 11:00 PM. So my client did not wave to the La Familia protesters, and did not go out to them at all, and this is a lie and a falsehood that you deliberately invented.".
The lawyer demanded an apology and compensation of 70,000 NIS.
The parties reached a settlement outside the courthouse.
In addition to the compensation, the reporter posted an apology on Twitter: "The tweet I posted on July 24, 2020 regarding Avner Netanyahu, which implied that he cheered on Yigal Amir's songs of praise, had no basis whatsoever. It was deleted by me shortly after as soon as I realized it was based on a mistake. I apologize to Avner Netanyahu and call on the websites that echoed him to do as I did and delete the things. Only Avner's health.".
