Gil Kopach is a comedian that used to host a satirical reading of the Weekly Torah Portion that was broadcast Friday night on Yair Lapid’s program, and raised the ire of the Ultra-religious parties by commenting on the size of Noah’s genitalia who threatened to bring down the government if the program was not taken off the air.
Apart from his commentary on Noah’s physiology, Kopach also famously compared Sarah Netanyahu’s alleged ill-treatment of a household cook, apparently fired for burning the soup, with the Matriarch Sarah’s mistreatment of maidservant Hagar.
In 2004, Kopach created a tasteless pornographic skit based on Lantzman’s Shoah and eventually apologized. He has also released a single entitled “I’m a Maniac”.
In the last elections, Kopach ran at the head of the Green Leaf Party, a small and liberal political party in Israel best known for its ideology of decriminalizing cannabis, supporting same-sex marriage and for environmental activism. Despite attracting 1.5 and 1.2% of the vote in earlier elections, because of a minimum threshold set at 1.5%, to date Green Leaf party has had no representation in the Knesset.
In a bizarre alliance that could only happen in a country like Israel, the party allied with the Holocaust Survivors party to contest the 2009 Knesset elections. Der Spiegel featured an article by Peter Glazer that was illustrated with a picture of Kopach with a Hitler moustache and swastikas. Kopach sued the paper in Israel, claiming copyright infringement, unjust enrichment, invasion of privacy, and sundry other claims.
The German paper has opposed the case on procedural grounds, claiming a lack of territorial right for Kopach to sue them in Israel, since they are not active there, and that his serving of papers with their representatives in Israel was unacceptable.
However, Kopach filed papers with a De Speigel representative in Israel, who is acknowledged as such in the paper itself. Although sold primarily in Germany, the paper is available in Israel as well. Noting that it is likely that satire using a Nazi theme will be viewed differently in Israel than in Germany, on appeal, the Court as ruled that it was within its authority to judge the case, and this interim ruling has been upheld on appeal.
OUR COMMENTS
The Israel Courts are correct to consider themselves as a legitimate forum to hear the case. It is difficult considering Guy Kopach as a private person who is susceptible to being hurt by satire. The claims of invasion of privacy are, therefore, a little unreasonable.
I am not sure that the copyright charges will stand up either. That as may be, it is likely that the damages awarded will be token rather than the substantial NIS 1,000,000 claimed. We await developments.
