In an interview with the ‘Dekel & Segal’ program last Thursday, former defense minister MK Avigdor Lieberman said regarding attorney Itamar Ben-Givir that he was wondering if Ben-Givir was not “a kind of champagne,” a code name for an agent of the ISA (Israel Security Agency/Shin Bet), referring to Avishai Raviv, who was learned to be an informant for the ISA during the period leading to the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin, when Raviv was inciting right-wingers to commit illegal and violent acts after infiltrating the community as a ‘settler’, a resident of the yishuvim.

Ben-Givir warned Lieberman that if he did not apologize within 48 hours of his statement, he would be sued in court. True to his word, on Sunday morning, March 10, 2019, Ben-Givir fulfilled his promise and filed a claim in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court for a quarter of a million shekels against Lieberman. This is after Lieberman did not retract his words.

In the lawsuit, Ben-Givir refers to that period some 20 years earlier, when Raviv was operating as an informant against Jews for the ISA in addition to being a provocateur.

The lawsuit also claims that Lieberman’s claims are ridiculous and Ben-Givir is fighting the torture of the Jewish division against the Hilltop Youth while Lieberman was part of the coalition that prepared the torture.

Attorney Itamar Ben-Givir said this morning, “I understand that Avigdor Lieberman is under pressure. He sees the polls, reveals that he does not pass the threshold, and understands that his voters flock to vote for the United Right-Wing parties. But there are things that should not be said; To hint at me that I am an agent of the Shin Bet, it is more serious than to argue against Lieberman that he is a KGB agent. This morning I filed a lawsuit in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court for a quarter of a million shekels against Lieberman, he slandered – and he will pay.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)