4.
CJA's January 13, 2026 e-mail to Senior Media Writer Tom Jones --
"The Battle for Fact-Based, Truthful Journalism is Being Fought by a Major Federal Lawsuit
vs The NYT & 33 Other Press Defendants. Will you report it?"

* * *

May 15, 2026
"Netanyahu and Israel threaten to sue The New York Times --
but experts say a government cannot sue a news outlet"
Tom Jones --

...While Netanyahu might threaten to sue, the question is whether he and the Israeli government actually can sue and who, specifically, was defamed? CBS News’ Graham Kates wrote, “It is unclear if litigation will be filed in the United States or Israel, or who the plaintiffs will be.”

And The Guardian’s Alice Speri and Jeremy Barr wrote, “It is not clear in which jurisdiction Israeli officials would bring the lawsuit or whether defamation claims could even be filed by a government.”

David A Logan, a professor emeritus at the Roger Williams School of Law and media law expert, told The Guardian, “There is no chance a US court would countenance such a case.”

Mark Stephens, an international media law expert, said the idea of Israel suing the Times is, “ludicrous.”

In addition, Rodney Smolla, a First Amendment scholar and former president of the Vermont Law and Graduate School, told CBS News that a government itself cannot sue for defamation in the United States, adding, “I think at the end of the day, courts would say this (article) is insufficiently targeting Netanyahu, and to allow him to sue is just too perilously close to allowing a suit by the government itself.”

This isn’t the first time Netanyahu has threatened to sue the Times. Last year, he told Fox News that the Times “should be sued” for its coverage of starvation in Gaza.

Netanyahu said at the time, “I’m actually looking at whether a country can sue the New York Times. And I’m looking into it right now, because I think it’s such clear defamation.”

Israel never did sue the Times in that matter. ...