Last update - 00:00 27/11/2006
Ma'ariv publisher sues Yedioth Ahronoth reporter for libel
By Assaf Carmel, Haaretz Correspondent
Ofer Nimrodi, the publisher of Ma'ariv newspaper, filed a NIS 2 million libel suit Monday at Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court against Buki Neah, a correspondent on criminal affairs for Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
Nimrodi filed the suit following a recording heard last week on the television program "Media File," in which Neah said Nimrodi paid a bribe to Tel Aviv District police chief Major General David Tsur.
Neah says spokesmen from within the Tel Aviv police have been using Tzur to harass him, while the spokesmen claim Nea has been covering them inappropriately in his articles.
Tel Aviv District Police spokesman Liat Perl was interviewed on Media File last week regarding the alleged threats.
During the interview, Perl played a recording of a conversation between Neah and a member of the spokesman office's staff, shortly after the correspondent was issued a traffic violation ticket.
Neah is heard in the recording saying, "Who's more of a liar, David Tzur, the liar, the bribe-taker... because I'm with liars who work with liars - there's a problem here. We have proof that David Tzur is getting a bribe from Ofer Nimrodi, and everything that's happening here is because he's getting a bribe."
Nimrodi said during the interview that he demanded Nea retract the remarks and threatened to sue him if he did not.
Nea made no such retraction, and Nimrodi followed through on the threat.
According to the lawsuit, "the defendant, a senior reporter at Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, made ill use of his position and standing" adding "the remarks carried every intention of creating provocation."
Neither Nimrodi nor the editor of Yedioth Ahronoth has issued a response to the suit.