| Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s CourtThe Honorable Judge Rafi Arnia |
| Civil Case 54478-09-20 Yitzhak et al. v. Google Israel in Tax Appeal et al.
External file: There is an auxiliary file for the judge |
| The plaintiffs: | 1. Amnon Yitzhak
2. Shofar – Organization for the Propagation of Judaism By Adv. Shook-Shaked & Nachman |
| Against | |
| The defendants: | 1. Google LLC
2. Google Ireland Ltd. By Adv. Sasson & Eidelman Arnon, Tadmor – Levy, Law Offices 3. Meta Platforms, Inc. By Adv. Kagan and Sagi Herzog, Fox & Neeman, Advocates 4. Dudu Shabbat By Attorney Elmaliah 5. Mordechai Levy By Adv. Blitstein 6. Akiva Gift By Adv. Hakamov |
Judgment
A monetary claim in the sum of ILS 1,800,000, accompanied by a claim for an injunction instructing defendants 1-2 (hereinafter: "Google Israel", "Google Ireland", and together - "Google", as applicable ) and defendant 3 (hereinafter: "Meta") to remove from the Google search engine, the sponsored ad service Google Adwords, the social network YouTube (hereinafter: "YouTube") and the social network Facebook (hereinafter: "Facebook")., 10 publications dealing with plaintiffs.
The Undisputed Facts
- Plaintiff 1 (hereinafter: "the plaintiff") is, according to him, one of the most prominent of the repentants in Israel, and the founder of plaintiff 2, which is an association (hereinafter: "the plaintiff"). The plaintiffs have been engaged in the dissemination of Jewish content and repentance in Israel and in Jewish concentrations around the world, for over 35 years.
- Google owns and operates a variety of online services and databases, including the Google search engine (hereinafter: the "Search Engine") and the YouTube platform.
Google Ireland provides online advertising services to advertisers from various countries around the world, including Israel, including the Google Ads advertising service, in which advertisers have the option to display ads on the search engine.
- Meta is an American company that hosts, operates and controls the online social network Facebook, among other things, for users located in Israel.
- During the month of June 2020, 10 videos dealing with the plaintiffs were uploaded to the Internet (hereinafter: the "Publications"). All the publications were uploaded and presented without any details revealing the identity of the creators and advertisers.
The publications were published online in the following ways:
- a website at the www.amnon.shop address to which the publications were uploaded and where they were presented (hereinafter: the "Website");
- advertising on YouTube, among other things, under the title "Amnon Yitzhak - The Dangerous Cult [including evidence and recordings]";
- An advertising advertisement on the search engine, which refers to the aforementioned website (hereinafter: the "Advertising Ad");
- A Facebook page under the name "Judaism Against Sects" to which the publications were uploaded (hereinafter: the "Facebook Page"). In relation to this argument there is a factual dispute which will be decided later).
- The main content of the publications is as follows:
- File 1: Video: "Amnon Yitzhak the Secular Man Who Impersonates a Rabbi" which includes -
- An excerpt from the words of the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in which he criticizes the plaintiff;