About a year later, Hofstein was fired from Army Radio due to "budget cuts." Hofstein sued the station for workplace harassment and silencing. He claimed that he was fired from the station due to political pressures (some of which were indeed revealed in testimonies in Case 4000). The lawsuit ended with a settlement agreement according to which Hofstein would be compensated by the station in the amount of several tens of thousands of shekels.
[Here appeared a "tweet" that Hofstein posted on Twitter in 2019 and dealt with the political pressure exerted on him - the tweet was removed for the sake of the reading sequence. N.b]
The story is quickly framed as a "false complaint" that came out of the political pressure exerted on the station to fire Hofstein. "He made a crazy spin on this thing," says Dana. "He said it was a false complaint, that they slandered him. He turned it into a witch hunt. He is a top journalist who is working on an investigation against the prime minister and they are trying to bring him down and bring down the investigation. And I don't. I don't exist in this narrative.
- Together with the other responses received, the plaintiff's response was presented at the end of the article, which reads: "Hello, the alleged statements are baseless and have been proven to be false. As soon as things are published, despite this announcement, I will file a lawsuit for the enormous damage you try to cause me!".
II(3). Advertising on the channel 13
- On January 5, 2022, the day after the article was published on a political website, Channel 13 aired an item on the subject on the "Before the News" program. Reporter Eli Rachlin interviewed the editor of Politikali in the studio about the article. The interview dealt mainly with the station's conduct, handling complaints, and the investigation as a whole. In this section, the name of the plaintiff is not mentioned. Later, "Dana" was interviewed (the interview with her was filmed shortly before the broadcast). These are the main points that were said:
I'm talking about Avner Hofstein, I can already say his name as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't scare me. He attacked me and my washcloth for a few weeks. He would touch us on the shoulders, stroke our hair, touch the inside of my thigh.