Shikma Bressler to receive 150,000 shekels in damages: Crowdfunding campaign launched
The protest leader won a libel lawsuit against Pany Michaeli; the judge rejected the defense's arguments and ordered heavy compensation and legal costs. In response, screenwriter Meni Assayag and other right-wing activists launched a crowdfunding campaign and launched a sharp attack: "She deserves a cell in Neve Tirza."
Physicist and one of the leaders of the protests against the government, Professor Shikma Bressler, has recorded a significant legal victory that is currently stirring up the web.
The Magistrate's Court in Jerusalem accepted the libel lawsuit filed by Bressler against right-wing activist Pany Michaeli, and ruled that the latter must compensate the protest leader with 100,000 shekels, plus 35,000 shekels for attorney fees and another 5,500 shekels in legal costs.
The ruling followed a series of harsh publications that Michaeli uploaded to social networks after the events of October 7, where she accused Bressler of treason.
In her lawsuit, which originally stood at 600,000 shekels, Bressler claimed that Michaeli attributed to her serious crimes of treason, aiding Hamas, and even prior knowledge of the brutal massacre. In addition, Michaeli published violent calls that included a demand to investigate Bressler, pull out her fingernails, and lead her to the gallows.
On the other hand, Michaeli tried to argue that this was a SLAPP lawsuit and asked to rely on freedom of speech, expression of opinion, and the fact that she relied on things published by Knesset member Tali Gottlieb.
Senior Judge Dorit Feinstein rejected all the defense's arguments entirely and determined that these were serious publications that are at the highest level of defamation. The judge emphasized that Michaeli did not present any evidence for her serious claims and did not even know how to explain where she drew the information from.
Although the lawsuit covered dozens of publications, the court chose to view them as one continuous event due to the proximity of time and the appeal to the same audience, but ruled for double the maximum compensation due to the severity of the matters and the clear intent to harm. Apart from the financial compensation, Michaeli was ordered to delete the posts and publish an apology and clarification notice within a month.
However, the legal decision did not end the saga, but only ignited a new storm on social networks. Immediately after the publication of the verdict, crowdfunding campaigns began to organize in right-wing circles intended to help Michaeli pay the high compensation amount.
Screenwriter and right-wing activist Meni Assayag hurried to join the effort and called on his followers to donate, while declaring that the right-wing camp will not allow the courts to become a tool that deters citizens from speaking, and will not abandon Pany in the face of what he defined as a draconian ruling and a SLAPP lawsuit.
Assayag did not settle for calling for donations and launched an unprecedented attack against Bressler and the judicial system itself. In a poignant post he published, Assayag claimed:
"In a country with a proper judicial system, Bressler would have been sent to prison for the rest of her life following her actions, instead of winning financial compensation."
He added that Bressler destroyed her own good name when she led, according to him, a rebellion against the state and caused chaos, and therefore called to immediately cancel what he called "the monstrous ruling."
