BERLIN (JTA) — A Jewish anti-Israel activist has lost his case against a German Jewish leader who had labeled him as “notorious” for anti-Semitic remarks.
Jewish blogger Abraham Melzer had sued Charlotte Knobloch, head of the Jewish community in Munich and Bavaria, over comments that he said violated his “personality rights.”
The court’s decision favoring Knobloch came down in January, and Melzer had until last week to appeal. He did not do so.
Melzer, 71, publishes an online magazine that claims to “deal exclusively with the Mideast conflict, with the oppression of the Palestinians, but above all with the self-serving, arrogant and nationalist Israelis and their promoters in Germany.”
In September 2016, Knobloch wrote a private email to groups that had made rooms available for an event featuring Melzer as a speaker on anti-Semitism. Melzer has claimed that charges of anti-Semitism are often exaggerated.
Several events with Melzer as speaker reportedly were canceled following Knobloch’s message.
According to The Jerusalem Post, an email the newspaper received from Melzer was cited by the court as evidence of Melzer’s anti-Semitism. In it, Melzer called Israel’s culture and sport minister, Miri Regev, and its justice minister, Ayelet Shaked, “Nazi broads.”
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