From One for Israel v. Reuven, decided yesterday by Judge Raag Singhal (S.D. Fla.):
[Plaintiff] One for Israel is a ministry initiative whose mission is to evangelize Israelis and promote Messianic Judaism. [Plaintiffs] Eitan Bar … and Mordechai Vaknin … are missionaries working for the ministry who teach the New Testament and share Gospel of Jesus Christ with youth, soldiers, and students…. The defendant is Yaron Reuven …, an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi who maintains a website, a mobile application, and a YouTube channel to promote Orthodox Judaism….
On February 8, 2021, Reuven published a video titled, "What Happened when Missionaries ONE FOR ISRAEL Met Rabbi Daniel Asor" in which he made the statements at issue in this case. Reuven published the video on his YouTube channel, Facebook, and other social media platforms. About 2 minutes and 37 seconds into the video, Reuven tells viewers about a meeting that took place in 2014 at a coffeeshop in Israel. As related on the video, Rabbi Asor met with Eitan and Vaknin to debate religious issues before an individual who was considering converting to Messianic Judaism.
At the meeting, Rabbi Asor "destroy[ed]" both Eitan and Vaknin by proving them wrong. Reuven reports that Eitan and Vaknin got angry and tried to beat up Rabbi Asor. He says Eitan and Vaknin "tried to break his bones!"
Plaintiffs contend the story Reuven told is false and an invention to negatively portray them and the organization for which they work. The video has over 7,500 views on YouTube. Plaintiffs allege they have suffered significant reputational and psychological damage because of the release of the video and brought this action seeking compensation from Reuven.
The court concluded the missionaries weren't limited purpose public figures, because that would require them to have injected themselves into a "public controversy," and there was no such controversy here:
