Court: Rabbi Yitzchak did not disapprove comparison between Herzl and Hitler

The District Court accepted the appeal of Modi'in News site yesterday, in a lawsuit filed against it by Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, and reduced from NIS 100,000 to NIS 9,000 the amount of compensation which the site is required to pay the Rav, as reported by Ha'aretz.

According to the lawsuit, the article stated that Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak compared Herzl to Hitler. According to the rabbi, the above is not true, and 'he did not put Herzl in line with Hitler. "

The story took place in 2008 when Rabbi Yitzhak came to speak in the city of Modi'in. The Modiin News site sent a reporter and two photographers to the gathering, but the photographers were not allowed to enter with the camera equipment, and only the reporter entered. Before he began his speech, the conference organizers presented a video called "Global Answer."

Later, a review article was published on the site, which claimed that Rabbi Yitzchak put Hitler and Herzl on the same line. The Rabbi claimed that "the film Herzl and Zionism, was not screened prior to the lecture, and that he did not say in the movie or anywhere else, the things attributed to him."

He said the reports caused him humiliation, made him the object of hatred, contempt and ridicule of people and could hurt his future occupation as preacher. The defendants argued in their defense that the article "was informative about the speech given in the culture hall, and the things published in the article are not defamatory."

The central District Court Judge, Yaakov Scheinman, overturned the decision of the Ramle Magistrate's Court, stating that Rabbi Amnon did not disapprove the comparison.

According to the report, among other things the film stated that "Two big criminals were in Jewish history: Hitler and Herzl. Hitler wanted to destroy the body of the Jewish people. Herzl wanted to kill the soul which is much more important than the body." The article attributed the things in the film to Rabbi Yitzchak, although he was not the speaker, and stated that "he put the seer of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, is in line with the tyrant Hitler."

The judge accepted the appeal and ruled that the incident in question another movie was screened, but Rabbi Amnon himself confirmed in his testimony in court that he would recommend a movie like this, that he has a positive opinion about the movie and that his picture appears on the cover of the CD.

Scheinman also noted that the picture of Rabbi Yitzchak is part of the homepage of the Shofar website and that he is the main, if not sole, speaker in the organization that deals in the management and screening of his lectures.

"I believe that those who recommend reading a book or seeing such a movie being an image to whom quite a few people listen, it is worthwhile he should say that the recommendation was to learn from the negative and despicable in the conduct of that same dark regime and its leaders."

The District Court recommended that the appeal will only deal with the height of compensation, and will not discuss the findings of fact adopted by the Magistrates Court. The decision stipulated that no evidence of malicious intent and that due to the fact that this is a public figure, who puts himself to public criticism, the amount of compensation will be reduced from 100 thousand shekels and fees at 12 thousand shekels compensation to the amount of NIS 9,000 and fees at 1800 shekels.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!