Hamburg musician sentenced to probation for anti -Semitic posts

Hamburg musician sentenced to probation for anti -Semitic posts

In a worrying turn, a Hamburg musician was convicted of post -Israel postings on social networks. The Altona District Court said a suspended sentence of six months. This is a consequence for the use of indicators of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations as well as insult. The musician, who has been convicted of various offenses in the past, essentially admitted the accused acts, which the judge saw in her judgment as a decisive factor. The defendant had over 20,000 followers on Instagram, and the reach of their strength in social networks was taken into account in the sentence, as [stern.de] (https://www.stern.de/news/israelfliche-postings-postings-Internet-Bewagestrafe-fuer-Hamburger-Musikerin- 35807330.html) reported. In this case,

The content of the postings was particularly scandalous. In three cases, she published a representation of the Brandenburg gate with swastika flag and a light installation that showed the Israeli flag. In addition, during a demonstration in Hamburg, she called the slogan "From the River to the Sea" into a microphone and also devoted herself to symbols of the al-Qassam brigades, the armed arm of the Hamas. Their criminal records, which had already included five convictions since 2021, contributed to the severity of the punishment.

anti -Semitism on the Internet

The problem of anti -Semitic statements on the Internet is now omnipresent. The phenomenon was only really visible during the Covid 19 pandemic, as numerous anti-Semitic content appeared on the Internet. Often together with conspiracy myths who presented the Jews and the State of Israel as masterminds of a world conspiracy. Such thoughts spread rapidly on social media and are reinforced by anonymous access and global networking. A dossier of the Federal Center for Political Education emphasizes that 70% of the respondents in Germany report a frequent perception of anti-Semitism on the Internet.

Anti -Semitic content is often disguised as an apparent satire or coded language and are shown in the form of memes, videos or apparently harmless comments, which, however, convey a clear anti -Semitic message in a certain context. The Internet acts here like a fire accelerator that facilitates the spread of such content and promotes normalization. More and more people are encouraged by social media to express anti -Semitic views, which not only leads to an increase in incidents not only online, but also in the physical world.

other convictions in the focus

A similar but non-identical situation recently frequently grown in Berlin, where a 27-year-old woman was sentenced to a prison sentence of one year and ten months, including enforcement for probation, for anti-Semitic posts. These postings resulted in serious riots in Neukölln. In these cases, as in the case of the musician, a clear connection between the spread of such content and the real consequences is visible. The author of the contributions denies her anti-Semitic attitude, but the judges emphasize that the acts are clearly expressed anti-Semitic, which is considered to be punishable as a penalty, as on [beck.de] (https://rsw.beck.de/aktuell/daily/detail/lg-berin-bewa--postings-posting- is.

The tendency clearly shows that anti -Semitism is no longer a marginal phenomenon, but an urgent social problem that becomes more and more visible in times of social media and global networking. It remains to be hoped that a signal will be set by such judgments to counteract this development.