The Ramle Magistrate’s Court on Thursday ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to submit his medical records to the court, including details of the prostate cancer he was recently treated for, as well as when it was first diagnosed.

Judge Menachem Mizrahi issued the order in the context of a libel lawsuit Netanyahu filed against journalists Uri Misgav and Ben Caspit, and prominent Netanyahu critic Gonen Ben Yitzhak, for asserting publicly in 2024 that the prime minister had a serious illness.

The defendants “spread false and malicious information against the prime minister,” the suit claimed, saying that claims that Netanyahu was sick with pancreatic cancer or other serious illnesses were “lies and falsehoods.”

“The prime minister is a perfectly healthy person for his age,” the suit added.

This week, Misgav filed a request to the court to summon the head of Netanyahu’s medical staff, Dr. Tzvi Berkovitz, and the head of the medical team who treated his prostate cancer, Prof. Aron Popovtzer, to give evidence in the libel case, after Netanyahu disclosed last month for the first time that he had been diagnosed with and treated for prostate cancer.

Mizrahi ruled that Netanyahu must file up-to-date medical records with the court. The file will be sealed and will not be made publicly available.

The judge ordered Berkovitz to write a signed letter to be submitted alongside the medical file stating that the file presents an up-to-date account of Netanyahu’s health and medical situation, and includes details on “the time when the plaintiff’s prostate cancer was discovered.”

Netanyahu must file the medical records by May 13.

Mizrahi added that once Netanyahu himself has testified in the case, he will decide whether to summon Berkovitz and Popovtzer to give evidence in court.

Last month, Netanyahu, 76, revealed in a lengthy social media post that he recently underwent successful radiation treatment at Hadassah........

© The Times of Israel