Former premier Naftali Bennett adamantly denied Wednesday that he had paid National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir hush money to keep quiet about damaging personal information.

The denial, which was backed by Ben Gvir, came after Kan news reported earlier that a sum of NIS 35,000 ($9,750) that Bennett had paid Ben Gvir as part of a defamation settlement was intended to keep the latter from going public with potentially damning dirt on him.

According to Kan, after suing for defamation in 2020 over unfounded accusations by Bennett’s wife Gilat, Ben Gvir began publicly claiming to have damaging information about Bennett that was “really below the belt” and “could tear a family apart.”A month later, the two sides reached a settlement during a lengthy meeting that sources described as ‘warm.'”

Kan quoted anonymous sources who claimed that Bennett had since been less critical of Ben Gvir than he has of other coalition leaders.

In a lengthy response on X, Bennett replied that “there is not and never has been any hush money,” calling any claim to the contrary a “complete lie.”

As part of the mediation process, “a compromise was agreed upon that included compensation, and this was implemented. That’s it. No hush........

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