Brussels has determined that Berlin unfairly restricted the rights of pro-Palestinian protesters<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s handling of anti-Israel protests was \u201cdisproportionate,\u201d and the government\u2019s use of hate-speech laws to counter the demonstrations unfairly restricted freedom of expression, a report by the EU\u2019s human rights commissioner has found.
\nCompiled by the Council of Europe\u2019s commissioner for human rights, Michael O\u2019Flaherty, and published on Wednesday, the report called on the German government to \u201censure that the fight against all forms of hatred fully respects the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression for all members of society.\u201d
\nThe report accuses German authorities of misusing claims of anti-Semitism to ban pro-Palestinian slogans and Palestinian flags from some rallies, and to outright ban others. Police have used excessive force against anti-Israel protesters, the report stated, while \u201cfreedom of expression has been restricted disproportionately, regarding debates on Palestinian rights or legitimate criticism of the Israeli government.\u201d
\nSince 2017, the German government has endorsed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. This controversial definition lists \u201cclaiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor\u201d and \u201cdrawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis\u201d as examples of anti-Semitic speech.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Pro-Palestinian activists call for protest at former Nazi concentration camp<\/p>\n
Among a laundry list of further complaints, the report claims that Germany is not doing enough to fight both marked \u201crises in antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred,\u201d and should not blame anti-Semitism on the Muslim community. The German government disputes this, pointing out that \u201cantisemitic attitudes are significantly more prevalent among people of the Muslim faith.\u201d
\nDespite accusing Germany of failing to protect the speech and assembly rights of anti-Israel protesters, and failing to protect Jews from anti-Semitism, the EU has never criticized Germany for restricting the speech rights of nationalist political figures. Germany\u2019s domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, has labeled the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a \u201cconfirmed right-wing extremist\u201d organization; an AfD politician has been convicted for sharing the government\u2019s own migrant crime statistics; and members of Germany\u2019s ruling center-right and opposition center-left parties have called for a ban on the organization.
\nFurthermore, the EU has also played a leading role in silencing pro-Palestinian voices. Among them is journalist Huseyin Dogru, a German of Turkish descent who was sanctioned by the European Council last year. The council argued that Dogru\u2019s reporting on the Israel-Palestine conflict had sown \u201cethnic, political and religious discord\u201d in Germany and therefore supported \u201cdestabilizing activities by Russia.\u201d German authorities agreed, stripping Dogru and his wife of healthcare coverage and freezing their bank accounts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brussels has determined that Berlin unfairly restricted the rights of pro-Palestinian protesters Germany\u2019s handling of anti-Israel protests was \u201cdisproportionate,\u201d and the government\u2019s use of hate-speech laws to counter the demonstrations…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t