Gil Ofarim, the German Israeli singer who accused the Westin Hotel in Leipzig, Germany, of refusing him service because he wore a Star of David pendant is now being accused of fabricating the story.
Hotel surveillance video released to German media shows Ofarim checking in without the Star of David pendant that appeared on the Instagram video portraying the alleged incident and which has, to date, garnered nearly 4 million views.
Following the uproar, protesters gathered around the hotel in solidarity. Hotel personnel displayed a banner with the logo of the hotel, the Muslim crescent and a flag of Israel. The employees that Ofarim denounced were reportedly put on leave as an investigation took place with one currently suing Ofarim for slander.
Some critics include noted Jewish German writer Henryk Broder, who suspected the affair was a publicity stunt.
“The representatives of ‘civil society’ have seldom been as united as in this case: The hotel must apologize to Ofarim and hold those responsible ‘accountable’’—immediately and without waiting for the result of the investigation,” he wrote in the Swiss magazine, WeltWoche. “That was, to put it mildly, a bit premature.”
In an interview with Bild TV, Ofarim stands by his testimony, saying that he always wears the star just not always visibly; the hotel employee must have known it was there.
He added that regardless of the controversy, anti-Semitism still remains a serious problem in Germany.