Former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yoram Cohen, who is a member of Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar! party, sent a legal warning on Wednesday to Israel’s Channel 14 after it aired inflammatory remarks about him.
A lawsuit was also filed by Cohen against Micha Kobi, a panelist on the program who had made the remarks.
According to the legal warning, Kobi had claimed, during Shimon Riklin’s program on June 17, that Cohen had pushed for deceased Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to be released as part of the deal to return Gilad Schalit in 2011.
Further, Kobi claimed that Cohen had pressured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into taking the deal - allegedly while knowing Sinwar was planning to carry out a future massacre.
Cohen fully rejected Kobi's claims, calling them “completely false” and baseless.
Submitted through the Ben Zur Corb & Co. law firm, Cohen’s legal team argues that Channel 14 served as a platform for spreading a “serious false allegation” against someone who served for decades in the security establishment.
The letter also demanded that the channel publish a correction, issue a public apology, clarify that the remarks are incorrect, and immediately remove all broadcasts and segments in which the claims were made.
Not seeking financial compensation yet
At this stage, Cohen is not seeking financial compensation from Channel 14.
However, the letter emphasizes that the central demand is to delete the publications, retract the allegations, and clarify to the public that these are statements “that never happened and were never created.”
“As the governance alternative led by 'Yashar!' with Eisenkot grows stronger, so does the campaign of slander and lies," Yashar! said in a statement following the letter being sent, adding that "the pressure is understandable and clear."