Limor Livnat, a former Likud lawmaker and education minister, was convicted of a hit-and-run after confessing to the incident, Hebrew media reported Thursday.
The accident, which took place in July 2023, left several people injured. Footage of the initial crash showed her car running into a trailer attached to a truck that was idle on the sidewalk, then quickly reversing, crashing into the car behind her.
The driver whose car Livnat reversed into could be heard shouting in pain in the video, while the ex-politician’s car quickly sped away and disappeared.
A police prosecutor reportedly told the court that, after fleeing the scene of the crash, Livnat ran into another car and caused a chain accident.
“Despite the fact that the defendant caused a car accident in which a person was injured and vehicles were damaged, the defendant left the scene of the accident. And if that weren’t enough, the defendant then drove away at high speed, collided with the vehicle in front of her, and caused another accident in which several vehicles were damaged and several people were injured,” said the prosecutor, quoted by i24 News.
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Livnat was convicted of a range of offenses related to unsafe driving and leaving the scene of an accident. She pleaded guilty to all charges including reckless driving, endangering pedestrians by reversing, causing damage and leaving the scene of an accident without providing details.
She has yet to be sentenced.
Prosecutors were seeking a 14-month suspension of her driver’s license, damages, and probation. Her defense attorney requested her driver’s license be suspended for only three to six months.
״רדיפה בגלל פוליטיקה? אני אפילו לא יודעת מאיזה מפלגה לימור לבנת״ | רחל שנפגעה ב״פגע וברח״ – מגיבה לגרסת השרה לשעבר וטוענת: ״היא לא מדייקת״ pic.twitter.com/3oT3w5xq7A
— שרון גל Sharon Gal (@sharongal) July 16, 2025
Speaking to the Kan public broadcaster, one of the women injured in the accident said Livnat hit the trailer twice before ramming into her.
“She moved forward, hit the trailer. Instead of stopping and exchanging details, she drove backwards. I honked at her for her to stop. She stopped, so she was aware that I was behind her. She continued towards the trailer again, hit it again, returned at excessive speed, hit me and fled,” Rachel Luger told the outlet.
“Passersby helped me, got me out of the vehicle, called the police, Magen David Adom, sat me on a bench there, gave me water, calmed me down,” she continued.
After the accident, Luger was hospitalized for a week and underwent extensive surgery. “They put metal implants in my arm, my hand was crushed, both bones in my forearm were shattered,” Luger said in her testimony, as quoted by i24 News. “I’ve been dealing with pain since then, to this day.”
According to Ynet, Luger lost mobility in her injured hand, leading her to lose her job as a hospice nurse. She is recognized as partially disabled by the National Insurance Institute as a result of the crash.
Livnat, who served in the Knesset for decades as a Likud member, is now an outspoken critic of the party.
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