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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  • unmagicalEnglish
    12·
    5 months ago

    Before lsreal began its genocidal attacks on Gaza

    Unless the case happened in 1948 than this part of your reply is inaccurate.

    • Womble@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      5 months ago

      and I congratulated you on your pedantry, and now you have your answer as to why it wasnt considered in the context of the RECENT (note that bit) attacks on Gaza, as that would have been using something that happened in the future as the context for what was said.