An influencer published posts which included the phone numbers of leaders of the Kaplan protest (protests against the Israeli government) and encouraged her readers to contact those people and purchase various retail products from them, even though those people do not sell products. As a result of the publication, the people were harassed with dozens of phone calls.
The Court accepted the claim and held that it is defamation. Defamation is a publication which is likely to humiliate a person or corporation in the eyes of others, making them a target of hatred and contempt due to actions, behavior or attributes attributed to them that harm their position, whether a public position or another, in their business, occupation or profession. In order for a publication to be deemed defamation it does not have to be slanderous and the harm shall be reviewed subject to the circumstances of each case, including reviewing the intent of the publication and the manner in which a reasonable person would interpret what is stated therein. Here, the publications amount to a distortion of the protest activists' true profession in a manner that is likely to mislead the reasonable reader. Therefore, the purpose of the publication was to undoubtedly to harass the protest activists. Hence, this is a publication that aims to humiliate its subject and harm his profession and amounts to defamation.