A German court has acquitted a woman convicted of comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza with those of Nazi Germany, ruling that her posts constituted protected political expression.
The Zweibrucken Higher Regional Court overturned a €2,400 ($2,700) fine last week after it was imposed by a lower court over two Instagram posts published during the height of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
One post contained a table comparing Israel’s conduct with the methods of the Nazi regime. It appeared beneath a divided image of the Israeli and Nazi flags, with part of a swastika visible.
Another depicted Israeli soldiers firing into an enclosed area as blood flowed beneath its walls. A swastika appeared inside a Star of David. The woman accompanied the posts with the hashtags #FREEPALESTINE and #GAZAUNDERATTACK.
The court ruled that the images expressed condemnation of Israel’s actions rather than support for Nazi ideology. It said freedom of expression protected the use of banned symbols when the context clearly conveyed criticism, parody or rejection of Nazism.
“during the height of”
I’m sorry, editor, did they stop? No? So what’s with the qualifier that tries to downplay what they are actively doing?
If someone commits a series of murders over many years, all tied together with some mental theme in the killers head, you call it a serial killer, becauae that’s what it is. Comparing them to other serial killers with similar methods wouldn’t make anyone bat an eye.
So why, pray-tell, is it bad to compare one fascist genocidal regime with another fascist genocidal regime?
The actual court ruling didn’t consider Israel in the slightest.
The actual law bans the use of swastikas, except in historical context and portrayed in a negative way.
The German court found that the defendant did those two things.
The Israeli aligned media is trying to pretend that it’s the comparison itself that’s illegal under German law.