Trial on suspicion of defamation and fraud
Ofarim had in an Instagram video in early October 2021 serious allegations of anti-Semitism against an employee of a Leipzig hotel. According to Ofarim, the hotel employee asked the Jewish musician to take off his Star of David and only then would he be allowed to check in. After the alleged incident, he posted a video online that went viral. According to the Leipzig public prosecutor’s office, the incident did not happen that way.
After extensive investigations by the public prosecutor’s office, one followed Indictment against Ofarim himself. However, the case against the hotel employee was dropped. Ofarim said in court on Tuesday that he has now deleted the video with the alleged allegations.
The witness statements from the singer and actress Jeanette Biedermann and the musician Gregor Meyle, which were scheduled for the day of the trial on Tuesday, had been postponed to December 7th. The spokesman for the Leipzig regional court did not give reasons for this. Originally, the hotel manager of the Westin Hotel was also supposed to testify as a witness on Tuesday – which was then canceled when the defendant confessed.
reaction the Central Council of Jews
The Central Council of Jews in Germany has condemned singer Ofarim’s false accusation of anti-Semitism against a hotel employee. “He must bear the consequences for his lie in every respect,” the Central Council said on Tuesday. The 41-year-old Ofarim “caused great harm to all those who are actually affected by anti-Semitism.” In the event of an accusation of anti-Semitism, it is right to “stand on the side of the person affected, to support them and not to question their experience of anti-Semitism at first. Conversely, such an accusation must never be made without reason. And that is unfortunately what happened here.” The Central Council also initially showed solidarity with Ofarim after the video became known in 2021.
For two years, Gil Ofarim accused employees of a Leipzig hotel of anti-Semitism. Now he has admitted that he lied. In doing so, Gil Ofarim has caused great harm to all those who are actually affected by anti-Semitism.