A German-Israeli singer who claimed he had been turned away from a lodge in Leipzig as a result of he was sporting a Star of David pendant has admitted throughout a defamation trial in opposition to him that he had made up the story.

The proceedings in opposition to Gil Ofarim for defamation and false accusation at a district court docket in Leipzig have been dropped following his stunning confession, German information company dpa reported.

The 41-year-old should pay a positive of 10,000 euros (£8,680) and he apologised to the lodge supervisor who was a co-plaintiff within the case.

“The allegations are true,” Ofarim mentioned through the sixth day of the trial, dpa reported.

“I would like to apologise to you,” he mentioned, addressing the lodge supervisor. “I am sorry.”

The lodge supervisor accepted the apology, dpa reported.

Ofarim had accused the Leipzig lodge of antisemitism in October 2021 in a video that shortly went viral on social media.

The singer, who lives in Germany, shared the video on Instagram on the time, exhibiting him in entrance of the Westin lodge in Leipzig and saying a lodge worker requested him to place away his necklace as a way to verify into the lodge.

However, after in depth investigations by the Leipzig public prosecutor’s workplace, Ofarim was charged with defamation and an preliminary case in opposition to the lodge worker was dropped.

On Tuesday, Ofarim mentioned in court docket that he had deleted the video with the accusations.

Ofarim is the son of Israeli singer Abi Ofarim, who carried out along with his first spouse, Esther, through the Fifties and Nineteen Sixties. The couple have been identified internationally for his or her renditions of people songs.

Germany’s main Jewish group, which initially stood behind the singer, sharply condemned him after his shock confession.

“For two years, Gil Ofarim accused employees of a Leipzig hotel of antisemitism. Now he has confessed that he lied. In doing so, Gil Ofarim has caused great harm to all those who are actually affected by antisemitism,” Germany’s Central Council for Jews in Germany mentioned.

“In the event of an accusation of antisemitism, it is right to stand on the side of the person concerned, to support them and not to question their experience of antisemitism in the first instance,” the group mentioned.

“Conversely, such an accusation must never be made without good reason. And that unfortunately happened here.”