Israel's Ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, condemned a local court ruling that found displaying a swastika to equate Israel with Nazis did not violate German laws against glorifying the ideology.
"Another German court ruling that allows antisemitic incitement to go unchecked under the guise of freedom of speech," Prosor wrote on X. "Unbelievable and shameful: The equation of the Star of David with the swastika has been declared permissible."
Prosor referenced a ruling by the Higher Regional Court of Zweibrücken in southwestern Germany, which overturned a woman's conviction for displaying Nazi symbols. She had posted online a distortion of the Israeli flag in which the Star of David was replaced by a swastika.
"In a time when antisemitic crimes are reaching record highs, this is a chink in the armor. Germany must not get used to the fact that antisemitism is repeatedly downplayed in court. The IHRA working definition must also serve as a standard for the German judiciary in assessing antisemitic crimes," Prosor said.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance is an intergovernmental commemoration committee with 35 member states, including 25 E.U. Member states and the United Kingdom. The alliance adopted its definition in 2016, which includes as an example of potentially antisemitic demonization of Israel "drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis."
