Ehud Olmert was forced to pay damages to the former leader and his family after an Israeli court found on Monday that he had defamed his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The high-profile defamation lawsuit, which got underway early this year, matched the country’s longest-serving leader against the only Israeli prime minister to ever serve time in prison.
After several unsuccessful parliamentary elections in 2021, Netanyahu filed a lawsuit against Olmert based on his comments.
Netanyahu resisted calls to resign at the time because he was facing corruption allegations.
Olmert claimed he was “expressing an opinion in good faith,” but the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court rejected that allegation, stating that Netanyahu exhibited “crazy behavior” and that both his wife and son had “mental disease.”
The former prime minister was forced to pay Netanyahu and his family $18,000 in damages and legal fees after the court determined that Olmert’s comments on DemocraTV in April 2021 were defamatory.
Olmert may challenge the judgment.
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