[_l7dh]

I’m absolutely baffled by Germans at this point. I’ve been taking to many Germans in the beginning of the genocide and the major feedback I got was « given what we did to the Jews… we can’t criticize Israel ». Now almost two years after, countless of massive crimes and violated international laws later, I really can’t fathom how people are not outside shouting to their government to stop supporting this evil state (which has nothing to do with Judaism as many courageous Jews are currently pointing out). This is deep corruption at the state level and, likely, deep racism at the population level. Dehumanizing the Palestinians is the main explanation for the silent majority in Germany, and not without irony: yesterday they dehumanized the Jews, and instead of learning a general lesson, they keep dehumanizing other semites in the name of their past crimes.

[immibis]

If you run outside your apartment in Germany and shout to the German government you will be arrested and you will not be treated kindly. They come down very very harshly on critics of Israel. Entire institutions have been destroyed (as in removal of 100% of funding, bank account closed, raided by police, electricity disconnected (during the police raid), building forcibly sold to real estate developers, etc) for stuff as simple as hosting one single one-hour speech by a native Palestinian. You can look up what happened to the Oyoun cultural center, or the Berlin Palestine Conference in 2024.

The police justification? "There is a risk that a speaker will repeatedly be shown via video who in the past made antisemitic remarks and glorified violence. For this reason, the gathering was ended and banned on Saturday and Sunday as well." - nothing that actually happened, but rather for a suspicion that words might be said later, the entire conference was immediately terminated, banned, and violently evicted. There is not much video of the eviction since filming private gatherings is generally illegal in Germany. https://mondoweiss.net/2024/04/police-raid-berlin-conference...

No sane resident of Germany would risk it. You comply with the government or else, no different than Russia or China.

[CLPadvocate]

This is complete and utter bullshit. Basically every single word is a lie.

Every day, there are rallies in Germany by the so-called "pro-Palestinian" groups. Every single one is allowed by the local administration. They are even protected by the police. The only reason for intervention by the state force is an illegal action - e.g. violence against other people, insults, calls for the capital crimes, racism or the like.

There are very high legal thresholds for disbanding or forbidding of organisations in Germany, so the reasons need to be incredibly severe, like preparation or calls to violence against other people (primarily German citizens), instigation of racial hatred, propaganda against the German state or the democratic principles, etc.

Not a single person was ever detained in Germany for being a Palestinian.

Punishment for torrenting movies was basically enforced by the copyright holders, usually leading to fines in the dimension of 100-200 euros, something that even jobless people can afford.

And the public hotspots were absolutely not illegal, there was just a lot of uncertainty about the legal implications of the crimes that may be committed by the people using the free access points. This is why Germany had no free wifi for so long - it was not forbidden, it was just not regulated and providers were afraid of being sued.

[ranger_danger]

This person repeatedly claims that criticizing just about anything is somehow illegal in Germany, and when asked for proof only says "the German penal code."