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Eli Tzipori thanks Barkat's defamation fund after Channel 12 acquittal

The Zioneer Intelligence Desk

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TL;DR

Journalist Eli Tzipori publicly thanked the legal fund established by Minister Nir Barkat for helping him defeat a NIS 3 million defamation suit by Channel 12, which he says ended without payment, apology, or retraction. Tzipori credited the fund with countering what he called Channel 12's excessive power and intimidation against critics.

01 · THE DISPATCH

Journalist Eli Tzipori, who was acquitted in a Tel Aviv District Court defamation suit brought by Channel 12, on Thursday thanked the legal fund launched by Minister Nir Barkat and chaired by Prof. Moshe Cohen-Elia. In a statement carried by his the source, Tzipori said the fund 'helped me contend with and defeat Channel 12 News after the channel sued me for an exorbitant sum of 3 million shekels. At the end of the legal process I did not pay a single shekel in compensation, certainly did not admit to anything, and of course did not apologize or delete the publications for which I was sued by Channel 12.' He called the fund's establishment by Barkat 'an essential cooling effect on the excessive power exercised by Channel 12,' framing it as a pro-democracy and free-speech measure against what he described as the station's bullying and political agenda. The court acquitted Tzipori on June 11; The Zioneer has reported on the case's trajectory since a June 11 settlement in which Tzipori committed to stop calling the station 'Al Jazeera 12', followed by the full acquittal on the defamation claim.

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