Feddit.org announced today that they are changing their rules to match German law despite their server not being hosted in Germany.

Feddit.org now bans

  • The sentence “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”

  • Comparing Israel to the Nazis

  • Calls to end Zionism

  • Calling for the dissolution of Israel

And much more. The full original post can be found here, or

Click here for full text of original post:

Hi.

In the past few days, discontent regarding mod decisions in this community has been brewing, particularly when it comes to comments on Palestine, Israel, and Israeli politics and actions. There are also misunderstandings regarding mod intention and German law. We hope to clear that up with this post.

While the servers of feddit.org are in Austria, most of the mods of this community as well as admins of this server live in Germany. Speaking of, our server admins have also posted a write-up on the same topic.

And with that, let’s go:

In Germany, antisemitism is specifically sanctioned in German criminal law, both for speech and as a motivation for other criminal behavior. In addition, Germany seeks to protect the Jewish state of Israel (the so-called “Reason of State” introduced in 2008) and thus verges toward protecting Zionism as well. Certain criticism of Israel/Israelis is also categorized as “Israel-related antisemitism”.

Since criminal law is involved, enforcement can mean things like police raids and device confiscations. After such police action, it does not really matter if it was appropriate or if cases are dropped or never charged: The damage is done. All told, it’s not that fun.

There is also no point in engaging in discussions about the veracity of statements that could get us into legal trouble. In addition, we believe that you can express most opinions without breaking rules.

If your comment contains the following, it will be removed from this community:

  • Calling for the dissolution of Israel, or calling for a one-state solution without specifying equal rights for all people; Jewish in particular.
  • Calling for a destruction, annihilation, an end of all Zionism or the like.
  • Equating Israeli actions and (historical) Nazism.
  • The slogan “from the river…”
  • Endorsement of or justifications for Hamas or Hezbollah, or slogans or graphics positively referring to these organizations. These are considered terrorist organizations in Germany.
  • … and obviously: Any of the common antisemitic tropes or calls to violence against Jews or Israelis

Comments will not be removed for the following:

  • Denouncing genocide.
  • Denouncing Israeli war crimes.
  • Criticizing Zionism as an ideology or political movement.
  • Referring to the current Israeli government as “criminal,” “expansionist,” or “far-right”.

If your comment is removed nonetheless, these are not the reason. I’d also like to stress that this community was never a free-speech-absolutist zone: It is a (usually lightly) moderated community. There may also be times when bans go too far. In such cases, please DM the @[email protected] account (which all mods have access to).

To help you understand why, I'll leave an assortment of sources here (translations via DeepL).

  • A news report:

    Berlin in mid-May [2024] around 6 o’clock in the morning. A loud, continuous “banging” against the apartment door wakes student Alina T. from her sleep. […] When her husband opens the door, several LKA officers, two employees of the district office and the SEK “storm” past him into the apartment. Puzzled, he looks at the search warrant. […] The background to this was a Facebook entry in the student’s profile: "From the river […]

  • A legal treatise:

    In November 2023, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Home Affairs also issued a prohibition order against Hamas.[60] According to the order, “the slogan ‘From the River to the Sea’ (in German or other languages)” is a distinguishing mark of Hamas[61]. […] the current legal situation [regarding “Denial of Israel’s right to exist”] is - contrary to what the statements of the Federal Ministry of Justice suggest[63] - anything but clear. Whether incitements to eliminate the State of Israel are prosecuted depends on the respective legal opinion and the prosecution will of the respective public prosecutor’s office.

  • Press release from the previous government:

    In this context, Section 111 StGB, which covers public incitement to commit crimes, may also be relevant. Incitement to extinguish Israel’s existence by force may be punishable under this provision. The same applies to calls to publicly display the Hamas flag. If Hamas attacks are publicly cheered and celebrated, this may also be punishable. This means that people who cheer on Hamas’s actions or publicly express their sympathy with the attacks may constitute the criminal offence of “approval of criminal acts” under Section 140 of the German Criminal Code (StGB).

  • Another news report

    In connection with the controversial Palestine Congress in Berlin, the German authorities have also imposed an entry ban on former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. “In order to prevent antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda at the event”, several entry bans have been issued, the news agency AFP learned from security sources on Sunday. One of these concerned Varoufakis. (Notably, Varoufakis would have spoken about one-state solutions …)

  • Overview Germany in 2024 by Amnesty International

  • Overview Germany in 2024 by Human Rights Watch

federal reverse (on behalf of the mods of !europe)

  • Afflictedlife@lemmy.ml
    2·
    1 day ago

    I was banned today from !Europe on feddit, a community I’ve never posted in, because apparently reporting a disinformation spam account posting uyghur genocide fake news rubs the mods the wrong way. I had no idea that instance was this much of a dumpster fire. Am I officially a communist now? Seems like a rite of passage has occurred

  • GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml
    482·
    3 days ago

    Palestinians, remember the following: you can resist your occupation but ONLY on the occupiers terms.

    For the rest of us, remember the following: you can protest genocide, but ONLY on the genocider’s terms.

    • homura1650@lemm.ee
      20·
      3 days ago

      A bit more context for that quote:

      calling for a one-state solution without specifying equal rights for all people; Jewish in particular.

      The “one state” in the one-state solution is Israel, which currently views itself as an occupying power, and has Jewish Supremacy enshrined in her basic law (essentially constitution). Jews are not the group that is at risk in this scenario.

  • answersplease77@lemmy.world
    676·
    4 days ago

    I did not leave reddit to come to a fucked down version of political censorship. fuck you and begone. I’m blocking their instance

  • Navarian@lemm.ee
    534·
    4 days ago

    Man, seeing Germany side with genocide once again was fucking not on my bingo card.

    I don’t imagine things will get better under the new right-wing government either.

    • ViaFedi@lemmy.ml
      1935·
      4 days ago

      Comments will not be removed for the following:

      • Denouncing genocide.
      • Denouncing Israeli war crimes.
      • Criticizing Zionism as an ideology or political movement.
      • Referring to the current Israeli government as “criminal,” “expansionist,” or “far-right”.

      How is that siding with genocide?

  • The Menemen@lemmy.ml
    372·
    4 days ago

    Tbh, I can understand it. There have been police raids kicking in doors of families with small children at 5 in the morning for having a Facebook post saying “from the … to the …” (I am also in Germany…). The police went through all of the families belongings and took all web-connected electronics.

    The situation is really rough here in Germany.

    • acargitz@lemmy.ca
      19·
      4 days ago

      Let me guess, nobody batted an eyelid when Netanyahu used the phrase to assert Jewish supremacist sovereignty “West of the Jordan”. Like you can say from the river to the sea as long as your extremist statement has the opposite of the proscribed polarity.

      • The Menemen@lemmy.ml
        12·
        3 days ago

        Yeah, you have to chose your battle. You can have your life and the future of your children get ruined only once.

        • mathemachristian[he]@lemmy.ml
          7·
          3 days ago

          Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Kommunist.

          Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.

          Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.

          Als sie die Juden einsperrten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Jude.

          Als sie mich holten, gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.

          martin niemöller

          • The Menemen@lemmy.ml
            3·
            3 days ago

            Ich sage nicht mach alles mit. Ich gehe regelmäßige auf Palästinademos und bin bei Mera25. Aber ich bin nicht so blöd mir das zukünftig unmöglich zu machen, wegen eines Sprüche, den ich sinngemäß ersetzen kann, ohne Probleme zu bekommen.

      • xor@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        36·
        4 days ago

        They’re validating the policy of the instance on the basis of the police tactics potentially being used against them, not the tactics themselves

    • Maxxie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      4·
      4 days ago

      Do you have a source about that incident? Reminds me of a dude arrested in russia for holding a blank piece of paper.

      • The Menemen@lemmy.ml
        2·
        2 days ago

        Here is the first entry of a google search. But it happened several times. Many people, probably several thousands by now, have been arrested and/or sued for saying or writing this phrase.

        https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/antisemitismus-216.html

        Sorry, it is in German.

        Mind that SEK stands for Special Task Force. Those guys come in full armour, masked and armed with full auto weapons.

        And yeah, that is what the mods and adminis of feddit are afraid of. It is a very realistic fear.

        • Maxxie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          3·
          2 days ago

          From what I gather from that and a couple other articles, the reasoning is either “this is a slogan for a terrorist organization” or a “that is a negation of Israel and therefore antisemitic hate crime”.

          germany wtf

          • The Menemen@lemmy.ml
            2·
            2 days ago

            Yeah, it became difficult. Whatever you say publicly, you first have to consider if it could be intentionally misinterpreted to silence critical voices. There are too many malicious actors.

            Many people lost their livelihood for that and imprisonment is always possible.

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
    517·
    4 days ago

    So they’re basically declaring themselves a fascist instance. I mean calling for end of Zionism is calling for an end of a fascist ideal, therefore that instance is declaring itself a fascist organization. Simple. Yeah no one should be Federated with this place.

  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
    13·
    3 days ago

    I wonder if “Jews and non-Jews can’t live together, and thus Jews must be exiled to Israel” will be allowed…

  • nednobbins@lemm.ee
    121·
    3 days ago

    Germany tried to create laws to prevent a repeat of the Holocaust. It’s a laudable effort but they’re failing at it.

    The problem is that they were so specific about preventing “The Holocaust” that they ignored many other kinds of bigotry and racism. They thought that if they forbid a few key phrases and symbols, hatred would wither on the vine. Instead they just cleared the way for other aspects of racism to flourish.

  • pyre@lemmy.world
    684·
    4 days ago

    sounds like grounds for defederation. protecting fascism is fascism.

    • Omega@discuss.online
      1318·
      4 days ago

      I find it more disgusting than .ml and even hexbear, Chinese Human rights violations lean towards cultural genocide, Israel is killing, starving, dislocating and destroying their culture, ethnicity, community and land, it is as bad as it can get, any defence of Israel is disgusting for me, and criticism of Palestine on that front is very ill timed in that manner, you can’t worry about ‘terrorism’ when the alternative is extermination

            • kreskin@lemmy.world
              2·
              3 days ago

              yes, it took a while, but the western world order is all but over. There is no justice, honor, decency, or dignity here. Its just pariah states with hollow shells of what used to be democracy. US, Germany, Britain, France-- all failed states playing pretend.

        • Omega@discuss.online
          7·
          4 days ago

          betting 100 dollars (not going to you of course) that feddit will remain federated for .world, sh.itjust.works and my home instance, discuss.online

        • Ledivin@lemmy.world
          422·
          4 days ago

          I posted several threads asking for that and got REAMED.

          The devs are tankies, the largest instances indirectly support fascism (and the tankies), and the biggest European instance is explicitly choosing to support neonazis.

          Lemmy is dead.

      • mathemachristian[he]@lemmy.ml
        183·
        4 days ago

        CuLtUrAl GeNoCiDe

        Go to xiaohongshu right now and look at all the uyghurs sharing their music, food, language, stories, spreading their culture freely on a predominantly chinese app!

        Whole ass street festivals in the main streets going on in xinjiang of uyghurs celebrating community

        easiest fake news to dispel but god forbid (redd/lemm)itors step out of their bubble