German court indicts anti-Israel protester for inciting anti-Semitism – Agitator with Turkish roots loses appeal after chanting ‘Death to Zionists’ at pro-Palestinian rally in Berlin | JTA/The Times of Israel

Kommentar von Honestly Concerned

Mit Zitat von mir... Hier mein vollständiges Zitat:
The court ruling is an absolute milestone in an otherwise very upsetting setting. We are extremely pleased that this ruling has been upheld by the regional superior court, thereby - hopefully - setting a precedent for other courts to follow. The summer of 2014 saw German streets filled with hate – anti-Semitic hate, which hid behind the "facade" of supposed "criticism" of Zionism and of Israel. The judges in this case very correctly came to the conclusion that criticism is absolutely acceptable, but that we saw, had nothing to do with voicing concern over the defensive measures of the Israeli army. When pro-Palestinian demonstrators called for the death of Zionists, they were inciting hate, hate which led to violence directed against Jews everywhere. And this ruling is particularly important because of the lack of precedents. While in theory the German Bundestag passed an anti-Semitism legislature with a very clear definition of anti-Semitism (based on the 2004 working definition of European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) - http://www.european-forum-on-antisemitism.org/working-definition-of-antisemitism/), this definition has never been applied in practice. This lack of implementation in turn has meant that German police have felt unable to interfere, during past demonstrations. This ruling should hopefully change that – at least partially. Free speech is to be treasured. Hate mongering, incitement and anti-Semitism, however, should never be tolerated and have clear consequences!