The Suits Up

Arutz Sheva reports an interesting civil suit brought by a settlement community against the second largest Israeli daily for libel:

(IsraelNN.com) The residents of Maaleh Rechavam, a new community established in the Judean desert southeast of Jerusalem, have filed a libel suit against Maariv, over a recent report appearing in the popular daily newspaper.

According to the suit, Maariv erroneously published that Maaleh Rechavam was established on "private Palestinian lands," in the language of the report. After requests that the newspaper publish a retraction were refused, according to Drori Bar-Levav, general secretary of the community, it was decided to sue Maariv.

Lawyers representing 14 residents of Maaleh Rechavam filed suit with the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Sunday. The defendants named in the case are Amnon Dankner, Maariv's editor-in-chief, journalist Uri Yablonka, and Maariv's publishing corporation. According to the suit, the representation of the community as it appeared in a May 2006 article by Yablonka defamed them, and negatively impacted Maaleh Rechavam residents' businesses and relations with their Arab neighbors. Residents are seeking 108,500 shekels ($26,100) in damages, as well as a public correction stating that "the community of Maaleh Rechavam is situated exclusively on state lands."
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In addition to the direct damages cited, the residents further claim, "Presentation of the community as sitting on private Palestinian lands may lead to hesitation to settle in the region, due to the double concern of the state evacuating the area and/or the eviction of the residents through a civil suit filed by owners of the land."

The suit concludes, "Misleading publicity such as this may aid those interested in uprooting the community and destroying the fruit of the residents' labors, in which they invested much of their personal funds."

There has been no group more demonized that the so called settlers in Land of Israel. It is nice to see in recent days that they are fighting back. I wish them well with this suit, and if this community is successful; there always remains the possibility of making left-wing extremist groups like Peace Now accountable for some of their more outrageous and erroneous claims.