Israel Matzav

Student fined 300 Euro for displaying Israeli flag in Germany

A German student has been fined 300 Euro (about $450) for displaying an Israeli flag during a 'spontaneous demonstration' by German Muslims against Operation Cast Lead in the German city of Bochum last January. The student is appealing.

According to Der Westen, a regional paper in Bochum, the public prosecutor termed the Israeli flag as "provoking" within a special situation.

The 30-year student, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she fears for his her safety due to "massive problems with Nazis", told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that the "Israeli flag is a provocation for the anti-Semites." She asked rhetorically, "What is provocative about an Israel flag?" The public prosecutor in Bochum was not available for an immediate comment on the case.

According to Der Westen, the local district court judged deemed the protest of the five activists expressing solidarity with Israel as a "dangerous situation."

A spokesman for the district court, Volker Talarowski, told the Post that there was a "violation of the right to assembly" and the court's decision was issued "independent of a political motivation." Talarowski added that the pro-Israel demonstrators failed to register their protest 48 hours before the event.

Yet the student, who is appealing the fine, said a special regulation permits "spontaneous" demonstrations without a pre-registration. In response to a hardcore anti-Israeli demonstration in Bochum attended by 1,600 protesters on January 17, the student, along with four pro-Israeli activists, displayed a banner stating "Against anti-Semitism and fascism: Solidarity with Israel" as well as the Israel flag. She told the Post that pro-Palestinian supporters "compared Israel with Nazi Germany." Chants of "children murderer Israel" and "Israel terrorist" filled the protest as well as a banner reading "stop the Holocaust in Gaza."

If this is the kind of court ruling they are coming up with now, imagine how much fun it's going to be to live in Germany when it becomes a Muslim country 20 years from now.

By the way, this is not the incident where police broke into a private apartment in the town of Duisberg and removed an Israeli flag (yes, you were thinking of that one, weren't you?). But that incident is pictured at the top of this post.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:17 PM