Court Dismisses Sara Netanyahu’s Suit Against Former Residence Worker

A court dismissed Sara Netanyahu’s defamation and privacy suit against former prime minister’s residence worker Silvi Gansia on Sunday, November 1, and ordered Netanyahu to pay NIS 10,000 in legal costs. Netanyahu filed the civil action in 2020 over Gansia’s public accounts of her treatment while employed at the residence. The dispute concerned two publications, from December 2019 and May 2020. The court accepted the truth and good-faith defenses and rejected the privacy claim. It found that Gansia had met her evidentiary burden, saying that her allegations in the publications had proved true. The court’s reasoning emphasized considering the evidence together, rather than examining each piece in isolation. Netanyahu had denied Gansia’s account and alleged that political interests had financed and used the former worker to harm the prime minister. Gansia’s current lawyer, Shaul Ida, described the litigation as lasting more than six years and characterized the action as an attempt to silence his client. Ida represented Gansia without charge. The dismissal followed the vacating of two earlier judgments against Gansia after her former attorney failed to submit closing arguments. An earlier judgment would have required her to pay NIS 100,000. The new ruling therefore resolves the suit differently from those earlier procedural outcomes, dismissing Netanyahu’s claims and awarding costs to the former worker.