These were some of the words of Yariv Abramovich, Director of Zalul Association, after the court verdict came in and revealed Zalul as the clear winner of the slander lawsuit the Herzliya municipality submitted against the organization.

The Herzliya municipality pressed charges against Zalul approximately a year ago claiming that some of the information that the organization used in order to portray sea pollution were not exact. Therefore, the municipality sued Zalul for 50,000 NIS.

The court decided that the incident was an innocent mistake and did not involve any malicious intent to harm the municipality, but simply came from a desire to preserve and protect the Mediterranean.

The court dismissed most of the claims made by the municipality and even criticized its behavior; "the behavior of the Herzliya municipality under these circumstances shows that it was not interested in a mistake being corrected, but rather in getting revenge!"

The court accepted Zalul's defense that the municipality and the mayor are chasing after Zalul as a result of inappropriate reasons and out of a blunt attempt to stand in the way of freedom of speech. The municipality's desire to harm Zalul was the clear result of Zalul's attempts to expose the neglect Herzliya has demonstrated over the past several years with regards to sea pollution.

The verdict called for Zalul to pay a symbolic sum of 500 NIS for the innocent mistake that was made which is 1% of the original sum. In addition, in irregular form and as a condemnation of the municipality's behavior, the judge decided not to award it the legal expenses of the suit.