Israel, Israel “Über Alles”
On Tuesday, August 6, the first trial for the slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free” was held in Berlin. The defendant was found guilty of condoning Hamas’s attacks on 7th October and fined €600 (40 days at 15 euros per day), plus court costs. The sentence sets a bad legal precedent and further jeopardises freedom of expression in this country.
Judge Birgit Balzer presided over the trial for events that took place on 11 October 2023, a day on which dozens of people demonstrated in front of the Ernst-Abbe secondary school in the district of Neukölln, Berlin, after a pupil at the school was assaulted by one of the teachers for displaying the Palestinian flag. At that demonstration, activist Ava M. said “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free“. The slogan has been used since the 1960s – decades before the founding of Hamas. It is perfectly legal in almost the whole world, including Israel and its great ally the USA, but not in all of Germany, now specifically in Berlin.
Other trials in this country for the same slogan, such as the one held in Mannheim, have given the activists the right to demand a free Palestine. In the Mannheim trial, the judge took his time, did his job and ruled that given the history of the slogan and its widespread different uses, the slogan is used to express the desire for a territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, where all its inhabitants enjoy the same rights and freedoms, as opposed to the apartheid regime, brutal occupation and genocide that the Palestinian people are currently suffering. As the defendant may well have used the slogan to express this aspiration, it should be covered by freedom of speech. The defendant’s lawyers, Alexander Gorski and Roland Meister pointed out this ambiguity in meaning and intentionally. This was confirmed by Ava’s statement that she meant it as a cry for a “secular state without repression” in the whole territory.
Both the Berlin state prosecution and the judge demonstrate in their accusations and verdict a complete ignorance of the origin and use of this phrase, of what is and is not antisemitism, and of the history and present realities of the region. In stating that the defendant that day was clearly “denying Israel’s right to exist” by having to evaluate this phrase “in the context of the largest massacre of Jews since the Shoah” the judge ignores centuries of Middle Eastern history where Jewish communities have lived in peace with their Arab neighbours. The Berlin judiciary has therefore rewritten the last 100 years of history, confusing Jewish people and communities with the state of Israel, and portraying a state, Israel, instead of Jewish people, as the main victim. This implicitly makes everyone who sympathises with Palestine, whether the person is of German origin or not, co-culpable for Nazi crimes.
Judge Balzer herself, like most of the German establishment, cannot or does not want to imagine a state where Jews and Arabs live together with the same rights and freedoms, since, with the creation of a secular state without a clear majority and dominance of people of European origin, the West would lose one of its most important and strategic colonies in the Middle East.
The same judge quoted some of the lies that Israel fabricated to justify its genocidal campaign. This does not only mean that she neglected to study the geo-political situation and the widespread international movement of solidarity with the Palestinian people, it also indicates that she did not even bother to check the veracity of the worst accusations made by Israel, which have already been largely disproved. This points to a clear bias on the part of the Berlin judiciary in the service of the establishment.
Although it is shocking to this day to keep hearing the same lies that were published and debunked months ago, it is not unusual in the German state. Its own Chancellor Scholz and Foreign Minister Baerbock, lie shamelessly, and claim to have seen a video of rapes committed on 7 October by Hamas, a video of which not even the Israeli government has any record.
The verdict of this trial is a sentence to the whole Palestinian solidarity movement, which is making an increasingly authoritarian and proto-fascist regime uncomfortable with its post-colonialist truths. And it sets a precedent that will soon affect other movements that are a nuisance to the German state.
This was clear to the more than fifty people who gathered at the gates of the court not only to accompany Ava during this political show, but also to shout loud and clear for solidarity between peoples and struggles, and for a free Palestine from the river to the sea.
Interview with defence lawyer Alexander Gorski (questions: Phil Butland)
Hello Alexander. Thanks for agreeing to talk to us. I know you are very busy at the moment. What happened in court yesterday? (this interview took place on Wednesday, 7th August)
My client, Ava Moayeri, was fined for shouting “From the River to the Sea”, and for encouraging other people to join the chant. This was at a demonstration in Neukölln on 11th October 2023, which she helped organise.
The judge called this incitement but ignores the context of the demonstration, which was called after a teacher hit a pupil for carrying a Palestinian flag.
The slogan “From the River to the Sea” has been allowed in other German states, though?
There was a ruling in Mannheim, but this was made on account of freedom of expression. This one is according to Section 140, Paragraph 1, point 2 of the German criminal code which is about incitement and disturbing public peace.
Does this mean that anyone who uses the phrase “from the river to the sea” is breaking German law? This is a phrase that Benjamin Netanyahu used earlier this year.
According to the judge, this has to be combined with “Palestine will be free”. Then it is seen as justifying the attacks on October 7th and denying the right of Israel to exist.
So, anyone who calls for the freedom of Palestine is seen as supporting and justifying Hamas?
According to the judge, yes.
You will be appealing the ruling. What happens next, and how long do you expect it to take?
We are expecting another court case in around 2 months.
But this is not the only case around “From the River to the Sea” in Berlin. There’s another one coming up soon.
Yes, there will be another court case on 22nd August.
Ava has been fined €600. Is there any campaign to collect money for her if she loses the appeal?
You will have to talk to her and her organisation Zora about this.
If people are enraged by this judgement, what can they do?
Stay on the streets and stay active.
