Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu gained a defamation go well with on Monday towards a predecessor who had alleged that he, his spouse and his son had been mentally unwell, with the court docket deeming the remarks a bid to hurt Netanyahu’s political profession.

Netanyahu’s lawyer hailed the ruling as “the shattering of another libel” – an allusion to his shopper’s assertion of innocence in three graft trials that overshadowed his final time period as premier and are complicating his efforts to retake energy.

Ehud Olmert, who served as centrist premier between 2006 and 2009, made the observations in a TV interview final 12 months shortly earlier than the conservative Netanyahu, then heading a caretaker authorities, was toppled by an alliance of cross-partisan rivals.

Having positioned first in Israel’s Nov 1 election, Netanyahu now seems set to type a hard-right new coalition authorities after extra mainstream events boycotted him on account of his authorized troubles.

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Tel Aviv Magistrates’ Court dominated that Olmert’s portrayal of Netanyahu, his spouse Sara and son Yair had uncovered them to “hate, ridicule or degradation” and that the defendant had not substantiated the remarks with a correct medical evaluation.

While voicing hope that psychological sickness “will one day be regarded like any other illness”, the court docket ordered Olmert to pay the Netanyahus 62,000 shekels ($17,850) in compensation. They had initially sought 837,000 shekels.

“An attempt by a public figure to influence the political outcome of a a democratic process cannot be viewed as ‘intent to cause harm’ in the sense of warranting multiple sums in damages,” the 26-page ruling stated of the lowered award.

In his latest memoir “Bibi: My Story”, Netanyahu describes Sara as a trusted adviser on coverage and his “rock” in occasions of hassle. He deems Yair, a outstanding rightist commentator on social media, a “sharp-witted observer of the political scene”.