Judge says phrase ‘denied right of Israel to exist’ but woman’s lawyer says ruling is a defeat for free speech

A Berlin court has convicted a pro-Palestinian activist of condoning a crime for leading a chant of the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” at a rally in the German capital four days after the Hamas attacks on Israel, in what her defence team called a defeat for free speech.

The presiding judge, Birgit Balzer, ordered 22-year-old German-Iranian national Ava Moayeri to pay a €600 (£515) fine on Tuesday, rejecting her argument that she meant only to express support for “peace and justice” in the Middle East by calling out the phrase on a busy street.

Balzer said she “could not comprehend” the logic of previous German court rulings that determined the saying was “ambiguous”, saying to her it was clear it “denied the right of the state of Israel to exist”.

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  • alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    2423·
    5 months ago

    Free speech in Germany is dead.

    That said, if I were in Germany, I would use a different phrase. Maybe “stop the genocide in Gaza, ceasefire now”.

    That would just be way more effective in actually rallying support.

    But I’m not in Germany, so Free Palestine, from the river to the sea.

    • sandbox@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      5 months ago

      That doesn’t fucking rhyme, dude. People like the chant because it rhymes and is fun to chant. It’s not that deep.

      • alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        12·
        5 months ago

        I am fully aware of that.

        But in the German context, I am not sure if it is effective.

        Perhaps someone can make a nice rhyme against genocide.

        “Germany sides against genocide”, or something. Maybe something that rhymes in German.

    • febra@lemmy.worldEnglish
      36·
      5 months ago

      You can’t say “stop the genocide in Gaza” in Germany either. People have been fined for that before. Apparently it counts as “hate speech against jews”.