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Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has praised the decision by a Berlin court to classify using the controversial pro-Palestinian slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as use of a “terrorist symbol.”<\/p>\n
“I welcome the decision of the Berlin Regional Court to outlaw the phrase … The new anti-Semitism that is based on the denial of the Jewish state’s right to exist must be uprooted!” Saar wrote on X on Saturday.<\/p>\n
A court in the German capital found a protester guilty for the first time on Friday of employing a symbol of a terrorist organization for using the phrase.<\/p>\n
The presiding judge said the slogan is a symbol of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group, which the European Union classifies as a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n
The court imposed a fine of \u20ac1,300 ($1,390) on the 42-year-old defendant.<\/p>\n
The defence lawyer has said they will appeal the decision.<\/p>\n
The slogan calls for a free Palestine stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, which is the area currently occupied by Israel.<\/p>\n
German police have sought to crack down on the use of the phrase, which Israel has described as anti-Semitic, saying it calls for the elimination of the state of Israel.<\/p>\n
Criminal courts throughout Germany have followed different interpretations of the slogan. There has been no Supreme Court ruling on the phrase so far.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n