Back in October 2021, in Leipzig...we had this weird event at a top class hotel in town. A German pop-singer, who happened to be Jewish, arrived and wanted service to check in. The hotel clerk had some guest who was ahead, and this took several minutes.
Eventually, upon getting checked in....Ofarim (the pop-singer) went to his social media account and told this story. The story was that the clerk saw his Jewish Star of David symbiology hanging around his neck, and gave him advice to avoid certain parts of Leipzig (making it sound like Leipzig was anti-Jew). Via the social media chatter....Gil got weepy-eyed and emotional.
So, this big hype started up against the hotel, and the town itself.
Here's the thing....there was a video camera aimed at the desk and caught most of the action, and the clerk denied ever making the Jewish comment.
About a week after this....the city prosecutor is involved, and in March of 2022.....he put charges up against Ofarim.
Today, in preparation for this....Ofarim hired two of the most well-known Munich lawyers and will challenge the charge.
What was said today via the news....the two lawyers want the judge removed because he's biased.
The judge? Well....he got around to a comment today and suggested that the case has a problem....in that there really isn't much anti-Semitism in Leipzig. I might argue...they do have fairly rowdy university students and a number of anti-capitalists in town....but no one has ever made much of a case of anti-Jewish sentiment for the city.
Where this is going? Defamation in Germany is a serious charge (criminal code 185), and if convicted.....up to a year (max) in prison. Oh, and there is a fine to it, if convicted.
Can Ofarim come up with some win-win situation? I would have some doubt, but maybe he has some friendly judge in the landscape who might dismiss the case on a technicality....if they ran the court.
On the news scale? One to ten? I'd say most Germans rate this as a '3'. If you live around Leipzig....it's probably a '8'.
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