Netanyahu Ordered to Submit Updated Medical File in Defamation Case

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must submit his most up-to-date medical file to the court so it can examine when his prostate cancer was discovered, Ramle Magistrate’s Court President Judge Menahem Mizrahi ruled Thursday. The decision was handed down in Netanyahu’s defamation suit against three individuals.

The case has become linked to questions over the prime minister’s medical privacy, public statements about his health, and the limits of discovery in libel proceedings. Mizrahi ordered Netanyahu to provide the updated medical file in a sealed and secured envelope directly to the court, for the judge’s review only, by May 13.

The file must be accompanied by a signed letter from Netanyahu’s personal physician confirming that it is the updated medical file and attaching an original medical document showing when the prostate cancer was discovered. The ruling does not yet order the personal physician or the head of the oncology department at Hadassah-University Medical Center to testify.

The judge said he would issue a supplementary decision on whether to summon the two doctors after Netanyahu testifies in the evidentiary stage of the case.

The defendants have denied that their publications constitute defamation. One defendant wrote on X in May 2024 that he had received information that Netanyahu had been treated for pancreatic cancer following a visit to Hadassah Ein Kerem. Netanyahu said in the lawsuit that he does not have a terminal illness and certainly does not have pancreatic cancer.

According to the decision, another defendant published several posts implying that Netanyahu’s medical condition was not normal and that the public was not being told the truth about it. The third defendant’s publication concerned an alleged incident involving a retired major general and Netanyahu, which Netanyahu said had not occurred.