The musician and singer Gil Ofarim will have to answer to the court for false suspicion and defamation from October 24th, the Leipzig district court announced on Wednesday. It is the latest development in an alleged anti-Semitism scandal, of which doubts remain after extensive investigations.
Gil Ofarim recorded a video of himself with his cell phone on the evening of October 4, 2021. In it he is apparently deeply shaken in front of the Leipzig Hotel Westin. He had to wait at check-in, he reports, other guests were preferred to him. At some point an employee of the hotel, a “Mr. W.”, said to him: “Pack your star.” What is meant is the silver Star of David that the singer wears around his neck, he holds it up to the camera and fights back tears. Here, in one of the best hotels in the city, according to the embassy, a serious case of anti-Semitism has just taken place. Gil Ofarim ends with the words: “Germany 2021”. The video was shared thousands of times on social media, followed by a demonstration in front of the Westin lobby and numerous expressions of solidarity.
On October 5, 2021, hundreds of people showed solidarity with Gil Ofarim in front of the Hotel Westin in Leipzig.
(Photo: Dirk Knofe/dpa)
The hotel reacted and initially put the accused employee on leave, although he rejected the allegations. Ofarim and the hotel employee reported each other. At the same time, management commissioned a law firm to conduct its own investigations, have witnesses questioned and evaluate surveillance camera footage. Digital forensics examined the video material. On behalf of the public prosecutor’s office, they recreated the process in the hotel – a procedure that is otherwise used in homicides. Half a year later, the Leipzig public prosecutor’s office dropped the investigation. Ofarim’s descriptions were not confirmed. Instead, there is sufficient suspicion that Ofarim published the video with the knowledge that his statements were untrue and with knowledge of the resulting defamatory and public opinion degrading consequences for the hotel employee concerned, the public prosecutor continued. The district court of Leipzig has now approved the charges unchanged.
Weeks before the opening of the main trial, Ofarim’s defense, including media-experienced lawyer Alexander Stevens, had warned against a “show trial for political reasons”. The team, which now consists of three lawyers, filed a motion for bias against a Leipzig judge. In a preliminary discussion, he said that he found it difficult to imagine the course of events that Ofarim claimed, since it is well known that there is no significant problem with anti-Semitism in Leipzig. Stevens complained that his client had been “massively prejudiced by the media”. “Despite the presumption of innocence, which is protected by fundamental rights, the father of the country, Prime Minister Kretschmer, but also ex-Justice Minister Heiko Maas, for example, commented on the matter in advance and thus gave their subordinate judiciary guidelines for a conviction, so to speak.”
Gil Ofarim has not yet commented on the allegations. Seven days of negotiations are scheduled for the process.