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 @EuroMod@feddit.org 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)

  • woelkchen@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I think the post in itself is informational, many of the comments are not.

    Post stays, comments get locked.

  • electric_nan@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    They should just shut it down rather than comply with laws which punish antipathy towards a genocidal state.

    • Takapapatapaka@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      It does not strictly punish antipathy towards a genocidal state, but rather antipathy towards a genocidal stage when they take the forms of call for an end of this state or equating this state with Nazis. It’s a problem, it’s bad, but please stop saying ‘they won’t let me say Israel is bad’ cuz that’s not the case (for the instance, don’t know about actual german state itself)

  • andros_rex@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    The videos and stills show soldiers forcing Palestinian men to parade in their underwear, abusing captives, looting and vandalising homes and even dressing up in women’s clothing they ransacked.

    […]

    HRF lawyers and online activists trawl through mountains of images and videos submitted to them online to verify and geolocate each one, check its metadata and verify its chain of custody, from the soldier filming it through to HRF, Abou Jahjah explained.

    Where the perpetrator is a dual national, HRF seeks prosecution under the second country’s existing laws on war crimes and in the case of sole Israeli citizens, collate legal files, which are then filed as evidence with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    Abou Jahjah has also been personally threatened by Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, who – alluding to the attacks on Hezbollah’s members’ communication systems in September 2024 – told him to “watch your pager”.

  • MummysLittleBloodSlut@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I got banned from that community for saying zionism is antisemitic. The mods called it “rage bait”.

    I was actually testing whether the mods are zionists, and since they were enraged by my post, I think they are.

      • jbk@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        Germany (and here the feddit.org admins) are criminalizing any questionning of Israel eXistEnRecHt (right to exist) as if it was hate speech.

        Afaik (i don’t want to deal with tiny leftie vs leftie problems that are hugely blown out of proportions like saying germany is fucking genociding again) people get banned for saying that Israeli people have no right to live where they are rn. Already established people who have lived there for their entire life or similar should just what, move away? Afaik this is the stance Germany is trying to have, what’s wrong with that?

    • OBJECTION!@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      They have demonstrated that they are not “leftists” by defending the cruelties of Israel. There is no “infighting” here.

  • toothbrush@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    It is because their admins are in Germany and they fear the extreme repercussion that the German State has done recently. Did you even read the post you pasted? Are are you intentionally trying to stir up drama?

    Not everyone lives in safety these days. Fascism has made it hard to do things like host a volunteer run online forum safely. There are cases where the heavily armed SEK arrest people at gun point for this. Do you think online moderators should be required to catch a bullet for your posts?

  • CosmoNova@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Not being able to criticize leaders that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against is bonkers and simple censorship. It’s like we’re right back in the 30s and I wish I was exaggerating.

  • OBJECTION!@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Elad Barashi, who has worked in the Israeli entertainment industry for several years, sparked outrage after posting on X: “Good morning, let there be a Shoa (Holocaust) in Gaza.”

    In another post, he wrote, “I can’t understand the people here in the State of Israel who don’t want to fill Gaza with gas showers… or train cars… and finish this story! Let there be a Holocaust in Gaza.”

  • Limcon@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    The guy is a 11 month account, how can people just hijack communities and impose these fascist rules on everyone there?

    This smells rotten, maybe lemmy is getting flagged by corpos and govt.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Can we, as users, prevent our own posts and comments from federating to a given server?

    They’re not banning me for my accusations of genocide; I’m Banning Them

  • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
    0·
    2 months ago

    Y’all should actually read the post. They’re clear that they don’t want to do this but fear extreme repression by the German government, and they even listed examples of what exactly they’re trying to avoid. I’m no Israel apologist, but I’m convinced.

    • IndustryStandard@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Feddit users commenting beneath it support this wholly. One of them made this “meme”:

      Feddit.org has also been banning users for things such as comparing Israel to the Nazis before they made this post. Then they owned up to it as their personal views. This is why they do not say they disagree with the German laws but they “do not wish to discuss it.”

    • Chozo@fedia.io
      0·
      2 months ago

      I’ve read the post, and I’m still unhappy with their decision. Capitulation only accelerates fascism.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
        0·
        2 months ago

        That’s true, but it’s still up to them whether they want to get arrested over social media comments somebody else made.

      • then_three_more@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        Sounds like you need to just make sure you’re specifying the current government of Israel and their actions, rather than the state of Israel in general terms or as a overall concept.

        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”.

    • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I agree. Nobody should be risking their safety / livelihood / whatever to host a random internet discussion site. That doesn’t mean we should leave the situation as it is. I believe the main concern is to move off the !europe comm there and onto the new one at !europe@lemmy.dbzer0.com

      • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        This is the best solution.

        Zionism is a fascist ideology. There is nothing to gain from hosting in a country where people feel compelled to suppress opposition to and liberation against that fascist ideology out of fear of incarceration and police brutality

        Free Palestine

        ACAB