Civil Case (Tel Aviv) 59951-01-22 Avner Hofstein v. Politikali Reader (R.A.)

1. Introduction
2. In 2022, an investigative article was published on the website operated by defendant 1 (hereinafter: "Politikaly" or "the Website"), under the title "What is happening on Army Radio? A system of sexual harassment, abuse and exclusion." The article covered incidents of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior involving journalists and employees of Army Radio (hereinafter: "The Station" or "Galatz"). Part of the article dealt with the plaintiff, journalist Avner Hofstein, who was accused of harassing behavior toward two female soldiers who worked with him.  The day after the publication of the article, Channel 13 conducted an interview (with a blurred face and a pseudonym) with one of the two female soldiers who had filed a complaint against the plaintiff and with defendant 2, who is a political editor (hereinafter also referred to as "Politikali editor").
3. The plaintiff filed a libel suit in respect of these publications under the Prohibition of Defamation Law, 5725-1956 (hereinafter: the "Prohibition of Defamation Law", or the "Law"). The plaintiff also included in the lawsuit six publications on the social networks "Twitter" (as it was then called) published by defendant 6 (hereinafter: "Levinson") and publications published by defendant 3, the site manager (hereinafter: "Politikaly's manager") on the social networks "Facebook" (as it was then known) and "Twitter".  The plaintiff petitioned for remedies to remove all the publications, to publish a denial and correction, and for compensation in the sum of ILS 360,000.
4. Factual Background and Publications

II(1).   The complaints against the plaintiff and the publications about the affair in real time

3. The plaintiff is a journalist who was employed at the Army Radio station (with the status of a civilian IDF employee). During the period relevant to the events, the subject of the lawsuit served as head of the investigative desk and editor of the program "Good Morning Israel".
4. On February 1, 2016, the plaintiff was summoned for a clarification call with the commander of Army Radio at the time, Yaron Dekel, and with the head of the station's news editorial board at the time, Dan Schori (hereinafter: "Dekel" and "Schori"). In this conversation (which was transcribed and submitted as an exhibit on behalf of the plaintiff) he was told that he had received a number of complaints from male and female soldiers about his style of speech and that he often touched them in a way that made them feel uncomfortable.  After this conversation, the plaintiff was transferred from his position as editor of the morning edition to another position.
5. On February 24, 2016, Dekel sent an e-mail to the Chief of Staff's Advisor for Women's Affairs regarding the complaints that had been filed and the manner in which the station had handled them. It states that since the conversation with the plaintiff and after he was transferred to another position, no further complaints have been received regarding him.  At the same time, it was decided to suspend him from the station.
6. On March 1, 2016, the plaintiff had a command inquiry with the Chief Education Officer. The summary of the conversation states that since the female soldiers chose not to file a complaint with the police, no investigation will be opened and the suspension will end.  The summary also states that in the absence of an investigation, there is no decision or taking a position, while it was made clear to the plaintiff that one must be treated with respect, show high sensitivity to sexual contexts, that female soldiers must feel comfortable, not feel harassed or threatened, and that "wherever there is doubt , there is no doubt, we must not do or say anything that may be interpreted by the other side as sexual harassment."
7. On February 28, 2016, the affair was published in the media - first without revealing the plaintiff's name and later with his name mentioned (the media reports were attached as Exhibits 4-6 to the plaintiff's exhibits and Exhibit 8 to Exhibits 6 to defendant 6).

II(2).   Publication in Politikali

8. On January 4, 2022, the Politican website published a "Galatz investigation" that dealt with allegations of inadequate handling by station officials in complaints of sexual harassment, a harsh work environment, and the fact that soldiers were left exposed and vulnerable. The investigation was published in two parts - the first part under the title "Army Radio: Soldiers Remain Defenseless"; The second part is titled "What's Happening on Army Radio? A system of sexual harassment, abuse and exclusion."

The intro describes the purpose and essence of the investigation: