Story By: Conor Sheils, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash

The son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a libel suit over “slanderous, misogynist comments” against a blonde TV anchor after appearing to suggest she obtained her job through sexual favours.

Yair Netanyahu is facing the legal action after Tweeting about Channel 12 anchor Dana Weiss he said: “Does anyone know how Dana Weiss got such a senior position? … Erudite? No. Smart? No. Interesting…”

When a netizen replied that the TV host probably went for a job interview, he responded: “Hmmmm I don’t know if that’s called a job interview, what happened there.”

Ms Weiss and the channel have now launched a libel case against Netanyahu.

In a statement announcing the libel suit, Channel 12 said Netanyahu made “slanderous, misogynist comments” against Weiss, “which even rise to sexual harassment.”

They added: “These are false and grave statements that constitute defamation.”

According to local media, the suit will be filed in the coming days although it has not been reported much the suit will seek in damages.

Once the new broke, Netanyahu tweeted: “Hahaha you want to hear a joke. Channel 12 filed a defamation suit *against me* in Dana Weiss’ name. The same channel that spilled my blood with the secret criminal recording.”

The tweet is a reference to a 2018 investigation by the channel – previously called Channel 2 – which showed Netanyahu making disparaging comments about women on a night out.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.