Former prime minister Naftali Bennett filed a NIS 1 million (over $292,000) defamation lawsuit on Tuesday against a rabbi who falsely claimed that Bennett’s parents, Myrna and Jim, were not Jewish.

The lawsuit filed by Bennett claims that Rabbi Ronen Shaulov’s defamatory accusations and “appalling epithets and curses” were seen by at least 700,000 people. Shaulov has more than 150,000 followers across various social media platforms.

Bennett pointed out that users who conduct a Google search for his mother are suggested by the algorithm to add the words “Christian” or “convert” to the search, indicating how widespread the claim became. Shaulov’s lie about Bennett’s parents “took deep hold” among a significant segment of the population, the lawsuit claims.

In repeated “sermons” posted online by Shaulov, he falsely claimed that Bennett’s mother underwent a Reform conversion in the US, said that Bennett “sold out the country” to non-Jews and that he is “worse than a dog,” who is at least loyal.

According to a statement from Bennett, his mother, Myrna — both of whose parents come from generations of Jews, some of whom “were murdered in the Holocaust for being Jewish” — received “many inquiries over the past year in regard to doubts about her Judaism.”

Such questions “brought her great pain and sadness,” Bennett added. The former prime minister stated that he opted against pursuing any defamation suits while still in office, but now feels an obligation to counter “the spread of...

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